A Tale of Two Fakes!
by DoraCatBuu
Summary: After trying unsuccessfully to re-retreive the Shield Card from IRPO, Rouge causes damage so massive that the only way to pay it off is for him and Blue to work there as police officers. With Fuse as their boss, can they survive the challenge?
1. Welcome to IRPO!

Okay, here's my attempt at a fanfiction for a game that's NOT well known. Introducing... SAMI'S SWEET SAGAFRONTIER FIC! Ahem, anyway... this one in particular focuses on Blue and Rouge with the other characters as minor background characters, and with slight references to other games or shows.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. Squaresoft does.

The halls of IRPO were quiet as a young mage ran through, trying not to attract attention to himself. He was of normal height, no taller than 5'9, hazel hair, wearing red and black robes, with eyes that shined a mischievous blue. As he skidded to a halt, he had a grin on his face as his accomplice appeared next to him.

"I don't know, Rouge..." the other man said, "I don't think Blue will find this very funny." Rouge, the mage, turned to his purple-haired friend. His grin hadn't faded, but his eyes narrowed with annoyance.

"I don't care! He's not even here to scold me for this. I do get to have fun every once in a while, right?" Rouge asked, keeping his voice to a whisper, "Besides, what would he do anyway?" With that, Rouge slipped into the doorway he stood in front of. Lute, his only friend, walked in as well, and looked around. The room was full of machines and gadgets, flashing buttons, and screens that showed various places in IRPO. Lute shivered.

"Rouge, I don't think we're supposed to be in here..." he said nervously, as Rouge looked and poked around at everything.

"Me either... this isn't where the Shield card is," Rouge admitted, looking down, "But this looks even BETTER than that card!" Lute, who was sure Rouge was going to suggest leaving, nearly jumped when Rouge's outburst of glee came. He looked over just in time to see Rouge climb into a seat of a dangerous-looking machine, and nearly screamed.

"_Rouge!_" he hissed, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching, "Get down from there! If you turn that on, they'll see us for sure!" Rouge obviously wasn't paying attention as he strapped on the seatbelt and turned the machine on. It made a soft rumbling as it booted up. Rouge could just barely hear Lute's pleas as he looked down.

"Would you relax?" Rouge snapped, crossing his arms, "You all act like I'm some kind of dangerous nuisance or something!" Lute stopped fussing for a minute.

"You ARE a dangerous nuisance!" Lute cried again, as Rouge fiddled around with the controls, "You nearly killed your own twin!" Rouge's eye twitched, and he stiffly turned around, making Lute shiver again.

"That..." he said dangerously, his hands shaking, "_WAS NOT MY FAULT!_ Blame our stupid traditions on that!" Rouge was so furious that he didn't even pay attention to where he slammed his fists down, which were on the buttons labeled, "Attack." The machine went haywire, spinning and bucking like a mechanical bull. Rouge nearly fell off, and he was thankful he'd put his seatbelt on. But the force of gravity wouldn't allow him to reach the controls as the machine began to shoot at anything, breaking windows, and basically destroying the entire room. Lute took cover under the nearby table, and watched as Rouge was thrown off viciously. Rouge ran behind the table too, only to see the machine shut off automatically.

"Is it... safe?" Lute asked, when nothing happened for over ten minutes. Rouge was brave enough to step out and take a look. He walked towards the machine, but it didn't respond.

"I think we'll be fine," he said, "But just in case, let's haul our butts out quick. I don't want Blue questioning me for why I was out so late." Lute agreed, and the two walked cautiously out of the room. And as soon as Rouge set toe into the hall, an alarm went off, followed by several alarms farther away.

"Damn it! The alarms go off now?" Rouge cursed, grabbing Lute's wrist and dragging him down the hall, "Why didn't they go off when that freakin' deathtrap tried to kill us?"

"I don't know, but Blue's going to be pissed if he finds out!" Lute said, as they made their way to the exit. It was very close now, and both men could feel the freedom... until their worst nightmare happened.

"FREEZE!" came a deep voice. Rouge skidded to a halt, and Lute crashed into him unexpectedly, causing them both to fall over. When Rouge looked up, he saw none other than Fuse, the head of security. Fuse was about 6'4, and his crimson hair only added to his scariness. In his hands was a plasma rifle, and behind him stood about thirty other cops. And all of them looked very angry.

"Uh... what's up, guys?" Rouge asked, smiling nervously. He and Lute got off the floor, but he didn't dare to look at Fuse. He could feel Fuse's fury just fine as of now. But, Fuse lowered his weapon when he saw Rouge.

"You again?" he asked, annoyed, "Didn't I tell you to get lost? I'm not giving you that Shield Card!" Lute blinked, and then turned to Rouge.

"Is he saying this isn't the first time you've done this?" Lute asked, and he sounded just as mad as Fuse was. A teardrop appeared over Rouge's head.

"Yes..." Rouge replied quietly. Lute muttered incoherent things as visions of his angry mother flooded his mind. Fuse raised an eyebrow until he decided to take charge again.

"Okay... it's pretty apparent that this is your first time here, so I'll let you off with a warning." Fuse told Lute. Lute beamed.

"Thank you, sir!" he said, and turned to Rouge, "Nice knowing you." With that, Lute fled the building, leaving Rouge alone to deal with the cops. He looked at them. He could have probably blasted them all away with a Mega Wind Blast, but then Blue definitely would've sensed it. Rouge knew he was trapped.

"So, what now? Do we fight?" Rouge asked, trying to find a way to kill Fuse and escape with no penalty. Fuse laughed.

"Fight? Ha! You'd kill me." Fuse replied, and smirked, "No, I have something better. You're going to work at IRPO to pay off the damages you've caused as a special detective." Rouge moaned miserably as Fuse explained about the codes of conduct.

"But why can't I just pay for it with money from one of my friends?" Rouge whined, making Fuse roll his eyes.

"Because then they would kill you." Fuse replied simply, "However, if you convince someone to help you, you'd pay off your debt twice as fast." Rouge stopped struggling to think about this. Lute definitely wouldn't help him now, and he couldn't ask Asellus or Emilia. That left Blue, Riki, and T26O. Rouge grinned.

"I know exactly who can help us." he said, shaking Fuse's hand.

"Wonderful. I'll expect to see you both on Monday, then." Fuse said, and let Rouge leave.

Unfortunately, when Rouge finally got to his house, Blue was home from Facinataru, and he looked very confused. Rouge gulped as he opened the door and slipped inside, hoping he could get upstairs before Blue noticed him. But Blue noticed him.

"Rouge, you're home," Blue said, putting the book he was reading down, "Where were you?" Rouge blinked, trying to think of an excuse that Blue might actually believe.

"Um..." Unfortunately, Rouge didn't have an excuse, so he changed the subject, "How's Princess Lion?" Blue's faint smile turned into a frown.

"Answer my question first, Rouge," Blue stated seriously, "I saw Lute at the airport, and he was spooked by something. He mentioned you. Where were you?" Rouge silently cursed to himself. He should've known Lute would spill the beans.

"Oh, fine. I was at IRPO." Rouge said, falling into a chair. Blue suddenly looked interested, which scared Rouge even more.

"IRPO? What were you doing there? Did Red send you?" Blue asked. Rouge shook his head and looked down.

"No. I went there to get the Shield Card," Rouge said, and saw Blue's frown deepen, "Before you get all annoyed, they wouldn't even tell me about it! I had to sneak in!" Rouge soon learned that it was a huge mistake to say that to Blue. Blue's shoulders stiffened, and his eyes narrowed angrily.

"You WHAT?" he asked, standing up, "You... you... You know that was wrong!" Rouge suddenly found that he was also standing up in defence.

"But they wouldn't tell me about the card! What was I supposed to do?" Rouge yelled just as loudly. Blue's expression turned into one of desperation.

"But what you _did_ do was _ILLEGAL!_ What if they come and find you?" Blue asked frantically, looking out the window, "Oh, I really don't want to break you out of jail... what will my mentor say? I don't want to be a criminal..." Rouge resisted the urge to start laughing as Blue began to ramble to himself, and instead decided to bring up the subject of his partner requirements.

"Relax. Neither of us are going to jail," Rouge said calmly, making Blue stop and stare at him, "See, Fuse said that if I work as a detective, I can pay off the debt! But..." Blue's shoulders relaxed, and he stopped shivering. But somehow he had a feeling he'd regret his next question.

"But what?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow as he picked up his book and sat down, obviously going to read again. Rouge stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"But Fuse said if I can get myself a partner, I'd pay it off twice as fast... and..." Rouge seemed to hesitate now. Blue sighed and looked up from his book again.

"And? Just spit it out already." Blue commanded. Rouge let out a sigh.

"And I told him you'd be my partner." Rouge finished very quickly. Blue spat out some of his water he'd taken from the table, and dropped his book, spraying water all over his robes. He stood up again, and Rouge was pretty sure he'd be in for an Energy Chain or two.

"You told them _WHAT_?" Blue yelled, making Rouge gesture for him to quiet down even though no one else was around, "How could you tell them that? Why did you think I'd even say yes? Did it ever occur to you to ask me first?" As Blue inquired more and more about the state of Rouge's mind, he became steadily louder and louder until Rouge dumped the rest of the water on his head to shut him up.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Rouge replied furiously, "I just thought that if I told you, you'd definitely say yes! I assumed you'd help me because we're brothers!" Blue snorted mockingly.

"That's quite an assumption, Rouge." he said, and then sighed again, "Well, I don't have much of a choice now... when do we start?"

"We start on Monday!" Rouge answered proudly, and walked over to the calendar on the wall, "Let's see... how many days do we have to goof off?" Blue watched in annoyance as Rouge looked for the date, and decided to answer for him.

"That's tomorrow." Blue stated simply. Rouge turned around towards him again, and he looked very distraught.

"What? Tomorrow? Then why didn't Fuse just say that?" Rouge whined, "I'm supposed to meet Red tomorrow in Manhattan!" Blue rolled his eyes as he continued to read his book.

"Then you'll just have to cancel," Blue replied, flipping a page, "Fuse probably said that to make you think you had more time. Anyway, after I finish this chapter, I'm getting some sleep. Make sure you go to bed too. I'm not waking your lazy butt up tomorrow." Rouge stuck his tongue out at Blue and walked up the stairs onto the loft that served as the hall to their bedrooms.

"No need! I'll already be at IRPO when you brush your hair!" With that, Rouge closed his door, leaving Blue to shut off the lights and continue reading in his room.

The next day was bright and sunny, which made Rouge's mood worse. He silently prayed a freak snowstorm would keep him from having to work, and the fact that Blue had successfully gotten him out of bed before 5:30 made it worse. Still, it was no reason to enjoy the lovely stroll through the quiet neighborhood to IRPO.

"So, did you have a good sleep last night?" Rouge asked, trying to stir up some kind of conversation with Blue. He knew Blue was still very upset about last night, and he also knew Blue wouldn't say anything about it either. Blue nodded, but didn't look at his brother.

"About as well as I could," Blue replied quietly, "Rouge, I'm nervous." Rouge stopped walking as the words hit him. He never knew Blue to be nervous. And it was more than just nervousness. He was actually afraid.

"Why? What's wrong?" Rouge asked, and he sounded genuinely concerned.

"I've never been near a cop before. I don't know what they actually do," Blue replied, "I'm worried they'll give me the gun and I might accidentally shoot someone." Rouge patted Blue's back.

"I doubt that'd happen. Just relax a little! Look, I doubt Fuse will give us anything more than just office jobs. Just play it cool like I do!" Rouge replied brightly. Blue laughed.

"I don't believe in blowing everything up like you, Rouge." he said calmly, and they both laughed. Before they knew it, though, they'd reached the entrance into the IRPO building. Blue gulped, but he stepped inside with Rouge. The halls were empty, and no one was at the receptionists' desk. The lights were on, so someone must've been there. But the lack of noise made both brothers very on edge.

"Where is everyone?" Rouge whispered, as Blue silently charged an Energy Chain spell. Rouge followed suit with an Implosion spell at the ready. Blue sprinted towards the intersection, but no one was in any direction. All of the rooms were open, and when no one came out, Blue spoke.

"Either we're early or we have an unexpected job..." Blue said, and something in the distance laughed. Without even thinking, Blue and Rouge both unleashed their spells, which just barely missed their target. Fuse dived out of the way, but the spells hit the pillar behind him, destroying it.

"Geez! Stalk two guys and they try to kill you!" Fuse exclaimed, dusting himself off, "Anyway, you're early, but I've been waiting for you. I wanted to get you both settled into your uniforms and office before we send you out." He handed a uniform to each brother, "Go and get changed." Rouge took his and ran off towards a room on the left, and Blue left for a room on the right. Fuse waited patiently until Rouge strutted out in his new police uniform.

"Damn! There's got to be a crime for looking so good!" Rouge exclaimed proudly, adjusting his collar, "Blue, how are you doing?" Blue came out a minute later, but he didn't seem nearly as happy as Rouge was.

"I don't look good in this..." Blue mumbled, walking over to Fuse.

"No wonder. Take your ponytail out! You look too... girly for the uniform." Rouge commented, which resulted in a nasty glare from his brother. Fuse decided to end the fight by telling them more about their workspace.

"Okay, now we need to get you into your office," he stated, leading them into an elevator, "I hear #172 is really nice, so we'll try there. Now, are there any questions before we get to the 5th floor?" Both Blue and Rouge nodded.

"What kind of work will we be doing?" Blue asked.

"And when can we blow crap up?" Rouge added. Fuse seemed to acknowledge Blue's question with a grim nod, but he simply looked at Rouge like he was the biggest idiot in the world. He shook his head and answered bluntly.

"Well, for right now you're to clean up your office and make it somewhat presentable. I already have some paperwork for you both, so you can start on that too," he explained quickly, and turned to Rouge, "As for blowing "crap" up, I'm going to make sure you don't get a gun, Rouge. Being a cop is a responsibility. What if you shot Blue?" Rouge looked up as he tried to consider this, and then shrugged.

"He'll just pop back up after I use Reviva on him!" Rouge exclaimed, and Fuse put his palm to his face in a tired manner.

"And what if you can't use Reviva?" he asked, a heavy sigh in his voice.

"I always can, my JP..." Rouge began, until Fuse cut him off.

"You ran outta JP, your magic's sealed, you have no potions, you're petrified, a bear drank your Magi-Water, your backpack's missing, point is BLUE'S DEAD!" Fuse yelled, throwing his hands up frantically as two policemen inched by nervously, running when they saw Blue glance at them. Rouge shrugged again.

"Then I guess he's dead." he answered simply, and Fuse finally blew his... fuse.

"_GET OUTTA MY SIGHT!_" he roared, and Blue quickly took Rouge's hand and dragged him out of the open elevator and towards the hall before Fuse took a gun to them. He pushed Rouge into the office and slammed the door.

"Are you insane?" Blue hissed, leaning against the door to keep it closed in case Fuse took a chase to them, "We're supposed to be helping these people, not pissing them off!"

"Well, maybe he should've asked a better question!" Rouge said defensively, "Does he actually think I'd shoot my own brother?" At this point, Blue gave Rouge a very suspicious look. "_I WOULDN'T!_" Rouge yelled, crossing his arms in an attempt to pout. Blue rolled his eyes and went to one of the desks.

"Well, it won't matter. We won't leave until we clear this room out anyway," Blue stated, taking a large cardboard box off of what he now claimed as his desk and setting it on the floor, "Let's see what's in here... a pencil... a stapler..." As Blue talked, he put the contents he pulled out neatly onto his desk as Rouge watched with little interest.

"Feh, it's just office supplies." Rouge grumbled, "We're magicians! We shouldn't be oppressed like... Hey! What's that!" Blue had just pulled out something that resembled a pistol, but without the trigger. Instead, a large dial with three settings took the trigger's place. Blue twirled it around, examining it.

"I'm not sure... but maybe I should give it to Fuse. It looks dangerous," Blue said quietly, until Rouge snatched it out of his hands, "Rouge!"

"Aw, come on! This is one of their weapons! We could have fun with this!" Rouge said happily, playing with the dial, "Besides, these office goons need some livening up!" Blue's eyes bugged out a little, and he twitched slightly.

"Do you want to be arrested?" Blue asked nervously, and Rouge shook his head, "Then give me the weapon! _Rouge!_" At that point, Rouge stopped playing with the dial and the weapon turned into a lightsaber. Blue hoped Rouge didn't say what he thought he was going to say, but to his dismay, Rouge said it.

"Cool! This is gonna be a blast!" Rouge said happily, and ran out of the office with his new toy. Blue nearly slumped onto the floor, knocking some of his files down with him.

"This can't be happening to me... my mentors didn't tell me what to do if Rouge became a criminal! Oh... this is bad... what do I do?" Blue asked, and although he hated to admit it, he already knew, "Rouge, wait up! Stop!" With that, Blue also ran out into the hall, after his psychotic twin.

-----------------------------(Yes, a cliffy...)

Oh boy, it sure seems like Blue's work is cut out for him! Can he possibly hope to escape the mess Rouge got him into, especially with Rouge causing havoc left and right? Can he even stop Rouge? Or will Fuse find them? What IS that little weapon called? And where is Lute amidst the mayhem? Find out most of these answers next chapter, so click that Review button!


	2. New Mission: Catch Nomad!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

"Rouge, stop it! I mean it!" Blue hissed as he ran down the halls. Rouge was already far ahead, and Blue was sure that he'd blow something up before he could be stopped. But then, Blue saw a path that cut across towards the elevators. He could ambush Rouge there. Grinning, Blue slid into the passage and dashed down, coming out just in time to slam into his twin brother. The two fell to the floor, but Blue was the first to recover.

"I can't believe you're that immature, Rouge," Blue scolded, and took the gun, "Give me that _NOW!_" Rouge sat up, a sour frown planted on his face. His crossed his arms.

"Geez! Make one lousy mistake and EVERYONE hates you for it!" Rouge exclaimed, in a complaining manner. Blue rolled his eyes as he put the gun in his holster.

"That's because you nearly blew this place apart, Rouge. Now get up before we're caught! If Fuse fires us, and trust me when I say he probably will, then we'll have to pay for the damage with cash," Blue explained calmly, getting off the floor and turning around to head back to their office, "Honestly, you'd think this kind of thing mattered to you." Rouge blinked, and ran ahead to keep up with his agitated twin.

"It does matter to me," Rouge said quietly, as they walked briskly down the blue-lit hall.

"Well, you definitely have a weird way of showing it. Now, you still need to clear off your desk. I'll get online and see what we're to do first, okay?" Blue replied, as they walked into their office. Blue went over to his rather clean desk and sat down. Rouge looked over at his, which was still a mess. Papers littered the top, and a few small boxes were there, which Rouge guessed held even more useless supplies he'd never use. He shrugged, and just pushed everything off his desk into a big pile next to him. Then he sat down and put his feet on the desk.

"All cleaned!" Rouge whistled. Blue, who booted up his computer, simply looked over and saw the mess on the floor.

"That's not exactly "all cleaned," Rouge..." Blue sighed, and turned back to his computer.

"Hey, there's no crap to keep me from putting my feet up, so it's clean enough for me," Rouge said simply, and turned to Blue's computer, "So, did you get it hooked up?" Blue rubbed his forehead tiredly, so Rouge knew the answer.

"Well, it says we need to choose from two operating firewalls. Whichever one I don't take, you have to use," Blue replied. Rouge thought about that for a second.

"Well, pick what you want. What are the choices?" he asked.

"Well, there's Snorton's Antivirus, and McCoffee Security Center," Blue replied, looking at the computer screen, "Those are the only systems supported by the computers Trinity supplies to us." Rouge crossed his arms angrily again.

"Stupid MicroShit..." Rouge mumbled, and shook his head, "Well, I don't know anything about all of that, so seriously, just take what you want." Blue snorted, and nodded.

"All right. I'm taking McCoffee, then. It's a bit more stable, and I'll need that. Chances are I'll do more work than you will," Blue said, selecting the second option. Rouge slammed his fists on the table.

"What? That's not fair! You think I'll just goof off all day?" Rouge yelled, and paced around, "Oh sure! I'm just the immature baby! And because of that, I always get second dibs on everything! It's always Blue, Blue, Blue!" Blue couldn't help but just blink, but he managed to get one sentence out.

"You're the one who told me to choose what I wanted," Blue said, typing on the keyboard and avoiding Rouge's glare. Rouge threw his hands up.

"Since when did YOU listen to ME?" Rouge asked, and slumped into a chair, "Well, it doesn't matter... I might as well boot up that crap they call a program..." Rouge turned on his own computer, and was greeted with a file to fill out his name and position number. He did so, and managed to get the computer running, at least. He looked over at Blue, who was typing again.

"So, how the hell do we get our missions?" Rouge asked, looking back frantically at his computer screen. He'd never dealt with a computer before. Luckily, Blue was smarter.

"Log onto the Internet," Blue replied simply, continuing his typing. Rouge nodded, and moved his mouse randomly.

"Right... and how do I do that?" Rouge asked, trying to sound cool. A sweatdrop rolled down Blue's head.

"Click on the E icon, and you're in," Blue said, annoyed, "Didn't anyone ever tell you this stuff?" Rouge laughed.

"Why? We're magicians! We need no computers!" Rouge exclaimed proudly.

"We need them right now, so stop fooling around and get working," Blue scolded again, and typed even faster. Rouge muttered something under his breath, and logged into the Internet. He was greeted with yet another form, and filled it out until he reached one question.

"Blue? What's 'intercourse?'" Rouge asked innocently. Blue actually stopped typing and looked over, worried.

"It... um... it's... well... what's the questions?" Blue counter-asked, trying to avoid the subject. Rouge didn't notice, and looked back at his screen.

"Have you ever had intercourse with a woman before?" Rouge asked, repeating what he saw on screen.

"Just put no," Blue replied, "It's another way of asking if you've ever had sex before." Rouge nodded and continued, until the next question caused him to freeze. Then he slammed an Energy Chain into the plant near the door.

"_THIS FORM CALLED ME GAY!_" he screamed, and Blue looked up.

"What? What are you talking about?" Blue asked, rushing over. Rouge pointed to the question.

"It asked if I ever had sex with a guy! It thinks I'm gay!" Rouge fumed, "How can it assume something like that?" Blue laughed hysterically.

"Rouge, it doesn't think you're gay. It HAS to ask that question! It's a security measure of sorts. Besides, the computer doesn't know your gender," Blue said, walking back to his desk. Rouge, however, still fumed.

"But I even put that I was a male! A MALE!" Rouge yelled again, and this time Fuse burst into the room.

"What is going on in here? We're receiving complaints about over-excessive yelling!" Fuse cried, aiming his gun everywhere. Blue laughed again.

"Sorry, sir. That's just Rouge," Blue said.

"Your stupid computer called me gay!" Rouge added immediately afterwards. Fuse sighed and looked over at Blue, who shrugged and seemed just as frustrated. Then he looked at the form Rouge was filling out.

"It's not calling you gay, Rouge. That's a security measure question. We need to know if you need to be tested for anything before a mission," Fuse explained, trying to remain calm. But, Rouge just wasn't a good person to be calm with. And his inquiry proved it.

"So then why not just ask us? Why put us through thinking the computer callings us gay?" Rouge asked, frowning. Fuse blinked, and clenched his fists silently.

"Because there's a chance you'll lie," Fuse said stiffly, twitching slightly.

"But shouldn't you trust us? Why just assume we're liars?" Rouge asked again, "Is it because you're hardened from having to arrest so many people?" Fuse blew it again.

"_JUST GET BACK TO YOUR $#&! WORK!_" Fuse roared, storming out and slamming the door, thusly creating more noise than either Blue or Rouge had. Rouge shrugged and filled out the rest of his form as Blue walked over to the windows to make sure they hadn't splintered anywhere from the force of Fuse.

"Okay, I'm done. Now what?" Rouge asked, when Blue sat down after carefully inspecting the windows. Blue sighed as he leaned back a bit.

"You should get an email about your mission. Click on the mailbox on your computer," Blue replied, pushing his chair forward and working again. Rouge clicked the icon and, low and behold, received his email straight from the boss. He read it, and then read it again. Surprisingly, he understood his orders, which were to look up a profile on a known criminal called Nomad.

"Uh oh..." Rouge said out loud, though he didn't really mean to talk to Blue, "Nomad's at it again... I thought Tanzer swallowed her." Blue looked up from his work.

"She probably escaped when you received the Vitality Rune," Blue replied, and let out a soft chuckle, "Or maybe Tanzer spit her up. Anyway, what's she up to now?" Rouge, who'd been browsing on Moogle, huffed.

"Same old. Shoplifting, pickpocketing, and outright theft in peoples' homes," Rouge answered, frowning skeptically, "She's fast, too. She's only been out for three weeks and she's already hit 30 houses in Shrike, two stores in Manhattan, and just recently made a breakthrough in the Trinity office." He fiddled around on the computer again, and added, "Apparently she's on a plane to a really out-of-state town too." Blue looked around.

"Think we should tell Fuse about this?" he asked, but Rouge shook his head.

"Nah. Not until I figure out where she's headed so we can ambush her," Rouge replied, until the door burst opened quickly, and in rushed a rather pale young lady.

"Officer Blue, this is urgent!" she cried, leaning against the door, "There has been a major theft in Rootville! Fuse asked that you and Officer Rouge meet him in the quad ASAP!" With that, the girl left. Blue leapt out of his seat, and Rouge followed as he dashed out of the room and down the hall towards the stairs.

"Looks like we found where she is, eh?" Rouge asked, as Blue practically ripped the door off its hinges. They ran in together.

"Sure looks like it. Jump!" Blue exclaimed, and jumped off the banister, landing five stories below. Rouge nodded and jumped as well, landing next to Blue. He opened the door and they rushed out towards the quad, where Fuse was waiting nervously.

"Sir! Blue and Rouge reporting for duty, sir!" Blue panted as he and Rouge came to a stop. Fuse looked over and saluted, but didn't smile.

"Excellent timing, boys," Fuse said, leading them into the small garage and towards a jet, "It seems that I gave you your assignment in time, Rouge. Nomad just struck the artisan's house in Rootville, and we're guessing her next target is Orlouge's castle." Blue looked over at Fuse as Rouge hopped into the jet.

"But who reported the crime? Was it the artisan?" he asked. Fuse shook his head.

"No, it was Lady Asellus. She and Princess Lion saw the whole thing, and they're preparing a trap to contain Nomad until we arrive," Fuse explained, gesturing for Blue to get into the jet and following immediately afterwards, "Normally, I wouldn't take rookies with me, but I trust you, Blue, and Rouge's Rune magic will help us tremendously." Blue nodded as he sat down next to Rouge and strapped himself in. Fuse took the pilot's seat and turned on the ignition. The jet made a soft rumble, and then it sped out of the quad and soared into the air. Rouge held onto Blue's arm to avoid being thrown into the back.

"Geez! Can't you drive a little slower?" Rouge called, and Fuse looked into the back mirror. He smiled.

"Sorry. Protocols, you see. We must be at the scene of the crime as soon as possible!" Fuse called back, and laughed. Rouge slumped back into his chair and crossed his arms.

"Isn't there a rule against showing up to a crime scene when you're dead? Or killing fellow members?" Rouge muttered under his breath. Then he leaned towards a window, "I'm gonna catch some Zs. Wake me when we get there, bro." Blue nodded, and took out a book to read as Fuse drove across the country. Rouge woke up a few hours later to find that the plane had landed, and no one was inside, save for himself. He stretched out and climbed out of his seat.

"Blue? Where are you?" Rouge called, looking around the plane for his brother, "What's going on?" After no results within five minutes, Rouge guessed Blue was outside. He walked towards the door, opened it, and jumped down. He saw now that they weren't anywhere near Facinaturu. In fact, they seemed to be thousands of miles from anywhere! Rouge found Blue and Fuse up ahead. Blue was sitting down, and Fuse was furiously screaming into his radio. Rouge walked over.

"Dude, why didn't you wake me up?" Rouge asked, sitting next to Blue, "And where are we, anyway? This doesn't look like Facinaturu." Blue glanced at Rouge sadly.

"I'm not sure where we are... Fuse is trying to call HQ, but he's having about as much luck as we would. He's worried that Tanzer swallowed us." Blue explained. Rouge looked up, trying to think this through.

"But I thought Tanzer died when I took the Vitality Rune. What gives?" Rouge asked.

"I guess Tanzer didn't rely on the rune to stay alive. I'd guess he swallowed it up along with everything else, and just didn't realize what it was," Blue replied, looking into a vile, purple lake of water, "I just hope we can catch Nomad..." Fuse blew up again and threw his radio into the water, watching it dissolve into a murky goo. Then he walked in front of Blue and Rouge, a deep frown planted on his face.

"Well, this isn't good. I can't reach HQ, and there's no response from Lady Asellus, either," Fuse said bitterly, "Only two options to conclude this. Either we ended up so far out that no one can reach us, or Tanzer ate us." Blue took a better look around. Now that he thought about it, it didn't look like Tanzer's insides. In fact, it didn't even smell like Tanzer, either. Plus, there were no beating organs or veins to indicate being eaten. Blue then looking into the water. It was purple, but he could still see the bottom. Rocks and sand littered the sea floor.

"We're still outside," Blue finally said, "We have a chance." Fuse looked over at him grimly, took out a cigar, and lit it.

"Yeah, but not much of one. The jet's outta fuel, and even then, the left wing's crushed. What else do you have, kid?" Fuse asked, taking a heavy puff of smoke. Rouge jumped up.

"Our Region Maps! We can simply warp to Facinaturu!" Rouge exclaimed, but Blue shook his head.

"Neither us of have been to Facinaturu, so it won't work," Blue said glumly, "And even if we warp to Koorong, we still don't have money for plane fares to Facinaturu." Rouge settled down and looked at Fuse, confused.

"But didn't you bring any money, boss?" he asked, blinking twice. Fuse took another puff of smoke and waved indifferently.

"We're on an urgent mission. I didn't think currency was needed," he said apathetically. Rouge hung his head as a large drop of sweat rolled down it.

"Wow, what an incredibly stupid assumption on your part. Doesn't this crap ever occur to you?" Rouge muttered, narrowing his eyes. Blue smiled nervously, deciding it best to not interfere. Fuse exhaled more smoke and shook his head.

"Nope," he said simply, "In all my years as a cop, this NEVER occurred to me." Rouge twitched at the tone of carelessness in Fuse and was ready to rip his own hair out, but he knew better than to kill his boss. Besides, Blue happened to be there too. Instead, Rouge slumped onto the ground again.

"So, what do we do until someone finds us?" he asked, as Blue redid his ponytail. Fuse put out his cigar and threw it into the water. Then he yawned heavily.

"You two can do as you please. I'm taking a nap," Fuse replied, and laid down. Rouge choked back a ferocious scream, and even Blue seemed taken aback with Fuse's response. But they didn't do anything. Instead, Rouge waited for Fuse to be asleep before talking to Blue. He got up off the ground.

"Come on, we're leaving," Rouge said, dragging Blue up.

"What? Why? And where will we go?" Blue inquired, nervously letting Rouge drag him towards the edge. Rouge gestured for him to keep his voice down.

"I don't know... I think we should at least get off this island. If Fuse won't take this seriously, I won't take him seriously. Innocent people are getting hurt," Rouge explained in a hushed tone, "So, I'm going to make my way somewhere, beat up some monsters for Credits, and pay my way to Facinaturu. And I want you to come too." Blue's eyes widened at hearing Rouge tell him all of this, but he smiled weakly.

"That's noble of you, Rouge. But how are we getting there?" Blue asked. Rouge grinned and pointed to the water.

"Isn't it obvious? We're swimming there. Now let's GO!" Rouge yelled, and pushed Blue into the water. Blue screamed until he splashed into the cool ocean, and thankfully he didn't wake Fuse up. Next Rouge jumped in, landing next to Blue and splashing him with cold water. Both looked back at the island.

"Sorry, sir..." Blue said quietly.

"Have a good nap, boss!" Rouge added, and then dove ahead. Blue quickly followed, and prayed that nothing would eat them along the ocean. Where they ended up was a mystery, but both knew that someone somewhere needed them to catch Nomad... and that was enough for them.

-----------------------------(A thief named Nomad...)

Well, now what's going to happen to our favorite pair of psychotic magicians? How can they reach Facinaturu, and will they even end up somewhere? What about Fuse? And can HQ do anything to help them? Find out the answers next chapter, so click that Review Button!


	3. Doesn't this almost remind you of PEve?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does!

"So tell me again..." Rouge panted, as he lifted his arm out of the water to propel himself through it, "Whose dumb idea was this?" Blue, who had managed to get ahead, stopped swimming and shook the water out of his hair. He blinked for a minute and turned back to Rouge, who was now struggling in the current.

"It was _your_ idea, Rouge," Blue replied bluntly, brushing his wet, sticky bangs out of his face. Rouge also pushed his hair out of his eyes and frowned.

"Well, why didn't you stop me?" Rouge asked accusingly, catching up and swimming next to Blue, "You should've known this was a disaster!" Blue glanced at his brother and rolled his eyes.

"I'll be sure to knock you on the head with a vase next time you think of an idea, then," Blue replied sarcastically. After that, nothing was said as the two kept swimming along the murky, purple depths of the water, hoping to see some form of life soon, or at least a shoreline. Once or twice, they saw a huge pointed rock, but nothing they could climb onto. Finally, Rouge couldn't take it.

"UGH! Where the hell _are_ we?" he asked, stopping and flailing his arms, "We should've hit something by now!" Blue managed to stay afloat and took out his continental map. He looked at it carefully, and then looked up around where they were. There was a rock sticking out of the water to their left, and a patch of water grass to the north, and thankfully the spot was marked on the map. They were just outside of the Manhattan Bluffs, and according to the map, a grotto leading to the sewage system into the city was close by. Blue smiled.

"Rouge, this way!" Blue ushered, and put the map away. Rouge stopped thrashing and turned around.

"What? Why?" Rouge asked, just in time to see Blue dive into the water, "Blue? Where are you going? ...WAIT FOR ME!" Rouge rushed into the water and swam after Blue, who had already opened the grotto and was diving in. Rouge followed and was pulled up quickly by none other than Blue himself. Or at least he thought it was Blue. He couldn't see well, it was incredibly dark. The only light came from a few poorly placed torches, which had nearly gone out from the moisture in the cave.

"Are you ready for a bit of a hike?" Blue asked, taking one of the torches near him out of its holder and holding it up for Rouge to see. Rouge shut his eyes to adjust to the sudden light shining on him, and then looked at Blue with one open eye.

"No, I'm not! We swam for Goddess-knows how long, and now you want me to start hiking? Why don't you just cut my feet off now!" Rouge exclaimed, but got off of the wet sand he'd been sitting on, "Oh, whatever... it's not like arguing is gonna help now. Where do we go from here?" Blue looked down the tunnel he'd been standing in front of. Although towards the back was pitch black, he could see the rocks in front were of a reddish color. He took out the map and looked at it again.

"According to our map, this grotto should dump out into the sewers if we go down here," Blue explained, and Rouge moaned miserably, "From there, Manhattan's a stone's throw away." Blue moved so Rouge could look down the tunnel. It was even darker down there, and he could see the water shining off of the walls from where Blue was standing, and hear the water drip off the rocks and onto the ground.

"Wow, and I thought we had fun BEFORE we became cops... boy was I wrong..." Rouge mumbled, as Blue led them both down the tunnel, "No, now we get to climb through sewage and catch psychotic murderers. Oh what joy. And later, when we have to throw someone in jail, that'll be a blast!" Blue rolled his eyes as Rouge continued to rant and rave about their new job. '_Well, at least he won't notice that we're traveling through the sewage right now..._' Blue thought, as he climbed up a ladder and onto a metal platform. Rouge followed, continuing his argument with himself and completely ignoring the squishing sound his shoes made as they traveled through sludge that was thankfully hidden from the darkness.

"And later, when someone dies, we'll have so much fun, jumping into the scene of the crime... OW!" Rouge had smacked right into Blue as he talked, and saw that Blue had stopped walking for some reason, "Blue, what gives?" Blue didn't answer right away. Instead, he kept looking straight ahead into the darkness. Rouge called him a second time, and this time Blue responded, if harshly.

"Rouge, hush!" Blue hissed, "Just stop and listen... don't you find it odd how there's no running water now?" Rouge raised a suspicious eyebrow and decided to humor his twin. He listened carefully, but couldn't see what Blue was trying to listen for.

"I don't get it," Rouge said quietly after a minute or two, "I think maybe the sewer's backed up. Nothing we should worry about." He went to walk ahead, but Blue stopped him.

"Rouge, stop... something's coming this way!" Blue said, and suddenly pulled Rouge down a different tunnel, "RUN!" Rouge didn't need an explanation as something huge crashed into the wall and roared a minute later, making the ground below the two shake violently as the walls echoed its booming voice. Then it lunged as it heard Rouge turn the corner, and cut the two off ahead. Blue stopped dead in his tracks, which was hard to do from the sludgy ground, and Rouge yelped as he slid into Blue again.

"_WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?_" Rouge screamed, but unfortunately, Blue was too terrified to answer. The monster roared again, and used its long tongue as a whip to hit Blue. Luckily, Rouge pushed him out of the way and they both ducked onto the ground as the whip missed. "Blue, are you all right?" Rouge asked frantically. Blue nodded and sat up, a bit dazed.

"I'm fine... but that thing..." Blue replied quietly, and Rouge cut him off.

"I know, it's like some kind of slimy sewer spawn!" Rouge cried, "Did you SEE what it did with its tongue? Talk about gross!" Blue looked at Rouge with annoyance.

"Would you let me speak? I know what that thing is," Blue said calmly, "It's a Giga Toad. But I wonder how one got here. Usually they're in the Yorkland swamps."

"Maybe it got lost. Look, who CARES why it's here! Let's just kill it already!" Rouge exclaimed determinedly, and focused his mind on the creature, "IMPLOSION!" Instantly, a great blast of energy hit the large toad-like creature, but when the smoke cleared, it didn't appear to have done much of anything except make the toad much angrier.

"It... it didn't work! Oh, this toad must be much stronger than we thought..." Blue said worriedly, poised to run back towards the intersection. Rouge, however, didn't seem as concerned for the moment.

"Either that or the fumes from all the crap down here created an invisible barrier around it," Rouge added, and when the monster croaked, he yelled, "RUN AWAY!" Hoping to outrun the monster, or at least find a way to hide from it, the two twins dashed towards the dark intersection and ran down the path Blue had indicated to go before, or at least they hoped they'd run down it. They could hear the giant toad stomp towards them, but neither could look back and see for fear it'd slow them down. And without thinking, Blue rushed down the ladder into a smaller tunnel, and as soon as Rouge jumped down, they heard the monster crash into the wall above them, unable to get to them. Rouge caught his breath and cheered.

"YEAH! Take that, bubble butt!" Rouge yelled, as a giant sweatdrop rolled down Blue's head.

"...okay... well, Rouge, are we going to stand here and insult the toad or should we hurry to the airport before Nomad strikes again?" Blue asked. Rouge stopped dancing around and looked glum for a minute.

"Yeah... I guess you're right... let's go," Rouge said, and then realized a problem, "Wait... Blue, are we going the right way?" Blue stopped walking and took a greater look around. His torch had gone out from running so quickly, but luckily there was a little light coming through somewhere. He noticed that the ground wasn't covered with sludge anymore, but that piles of garbage now dotted the floor here and there, which caused the sewers to smell even worse than they did beforehand. The rocky walls were replaced with metal ones, and every so ofter, Blue could see a small pipe going into them. He looked at the map a third time, but unfortunately, it didn't show the layout of the sewers.

"I don't know... the map doesn't say where exactly we are," Blue replied nervously, "But if there's garbage, we should be close to the city, right? Let's follow the path, maybe we'll end up outside." As Blue walked past Rouge, Rouge stuffed his hands in his pocket and looked down the passage.

"I won't argue with that logic," Rouge mumbled, and followed Blue. It was silent as they walked down the path, save for their footsteps and the occasional rustle as a rat ran through a pile of debris. But nothing interesting happened for a while. Rouge began to wonder if they were actually getting anywhere. For the next 20 minutes, he saw nothing but garbage and pipes, and he intended to let Blue know this.

"Ugh... Blue, I think you got us lost!" Rouge finally exclaimed, his voice echoing off the walls. Blue slowed down and turned back towards Rouge, who had a sour look on his face.

"What makes you say that?" Blue asked, "Besides, it's not like you've been leading the way." Rouge crossed his arms and gestured towards a pile of garbage.

"We've seen probably 70 piles of crap, and yet there haven't been any turns or detours through this tunnel! I'm starting to think this tunnel doesn't end!" Rouge snapped. Blue ignored the tone in Rouge's voice and continued walking instead of answering Rouge. That made Rouge very angry, and he picked up a rock and threw it at Blue.

"ANSWER ME!" Rouge yelled, and realized that was another huge mistake. Blue stopped, and slowly turned around. His eyes burned with rage, and Rouge sensed a darkness he never felt in Blue.

"You want me to say something?" Blue asked, dangerously calm, "Fine. Then I'll say shut up, Rouge. If you don't like my leading, then leave me alone. This is your fault. You're the one who landed us in IRPO. You're the one who dragged me into this. If you don't like the way things are going, then tough shit for you. We have no choice except to go and swim in the ocean for who cares how long. Do you really want that?" Blue's voice had steadily risen as he told Rouge all of this. Obviously, he'd wanted to say this for hours now, and Rouge shook with every word. He was speechless for a few minutes.

"I... I don't know..." Rouge said, trying to recover from the shock of his brother's words. He knew what Blue said was true. It WAS all his fault. He WAS the one who went looking for trouble in IRPO, not Blue. Yet here Blue was, doing most to all of the work. "I'm sorry..." Rouge said, after a moment of thought. Blue's expression softened and all of the rage seemed to fade.

"It's okay. But right now, we ARE lost. But how can we tell if we're near the city?" Blue asked. Rouge closed his eyes to try and concentrate. When he was by himself, studying magic, he had to perfect being able to tell how close he was to a city. And although Blue probably had to learn the same thing, his ability was obviously dulled. Thankfully, Blue quieted down as Rouge focused his mind. He could hear something above, but couldn't make it out too well. He focused harder, and finally could interpret that what he heard was people. People and the sounds of machines running, most probably cars or some sort of transport. Concentrating even more, he could actually hear conversations being held.

"So, did you hear about Donny Rocker?" someone was saying to her friend in the streets.

"Dude, this prank is going to ROCK!" a boy said, farther into town.

"Flight 342 to Facinaturu is delayed until 6 P.M. tonight. I repeat, flight 342 is delayed." Rouge opened his eyes as he heard this, and realized it was coming from very close by. Blue tilted his head, worried that maybe something bad happened to Rouge, but was relieved when Rouge explained.

"We're close to the airport!" Rouge exclaimed happily, "Very close, actually. In fact... it almost sounds like we're right below it." Blue was taken aback by this, but was still skeptical despite Rouge's confidence.

"Are you sure?" Blue asked, and Rouge replied with a vigorous nod.

"Yeah! Close your eyes and listen!" Rouge answered. Blue decided to try it, and shut his eyes. At first, all he could hear was the wind moving around in the tunnels, but then as he focused his mind, he began to hear what was going on above the sewers too.

"The flight's canceled? You're kidding me! I'm a COP! This is official IRPO business! You have to let me on!" Blue opened his eyes suddenly as the voice had sounded familiar. And as Blue thought about it, he realized that who he heard was their boss, Fuse.

"Rouge, Fuse is in Manhattan!" Blue cried. At first, Rouge seemed a bit surprised to hear that, and then he laughed.

"So, the careless boss is here, huh?" Rouge said, amused, "I wonder how he managed to get here before we did. I doubt he swam." Blue looked around, hoping to find a way to get into the airport, or to at least get out of the sewers, and his well-adjusted eyes spotted a ladder behind a fallen pillar. He ran over and examined the ladder. It was in very good service, despite being in a sewer, and it looked like it was brand new, too. He put one of his hands on the rung that was level with his head.

"We can ask him later. Right now, I found a way out, I think," Blue replied, and pulled himself up, "So come on, before the monster from earlier happens to show up again." He climbed up and saw Rouge grab a rung before he pushed open a trap door and stuck his head out. He looked around and saw that the ladder led to a storage room somewhere. Heaving himself out of the opening, he dusted himself off and took a better look around. Boxes and metal crates lined most of the walls, and most had the word "Fragile" on them. The storage area itself was pretty large, able to fit four small planes in it and leaving enough room to practically dance around. There were lights hanging from the ceiling, which let Blue see the door on the northern wall, which was far away. Squinting his eyes to see a bit more, he saw that above the door was a raised platform with a huge window overlooking the area. Behind him, Rouge managed to climb out.

"So, where are we now?" Rouge asked, dusting himself off. Blue looked at one of the planes before answering.

"I think we're in the airport's storage room," Blue replied, "Let's go before a guard sees us." As quietly as they could, the twins ran over to the door, making sure to avoid the crates for fear they'd set off an alarm. But nothing happened. When they reached the door, Blue went to turn the knob, and cursed.

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked, as Blue pounded the door.

"The door's locked!" Blue huffed, throwing his hands up when he couldn't break the door down, "We're stuck in here." Rouge picked up a metal pole on the floor and grinned.

"We're not stuck," he said, and pushed Blue out of the way, "Watch." With that, Rouge jammed the pole into the crack between the door and the frame and pried the two apart. Blue heard a sharp crack to indicate that at the very least, Rouge damaged the wood. He heard a soft clink in the next room and the door swung open to reveal a nice, but unoccupied office.

"See? Works like a charm!" Rouge said proudly, throwing the metal pole into the storage room and walking through the newly-opened doorway. Blue looked oddly at the storage area, then at the door, then at the pole, and finally at Rouge.

"How did you do that?" Blue asked, and then added, "On second thought, I probably don't want to know." Rouge snorted as Blue stepped through the door and tried to close it as quietly as he could.

"You're right. You probably don't," Rouge agreed, and together, they walked out of the office, careful not to walk into one of the many chairs scattered around. Neither of them wanted to turn on the light, thinking that it might attract attention if no one was supposed to be in there. When Rouge opened the door into the hall, they were greeted with a blinding light. Blue had to shield his eyes to readjust them, and Rouge choked back the urge to scream about going blind. Since Blue was smart enough to shield his eyes, he recovered first, and looked down the hall. It was a plain beige color, with doorways to offices in neat, even rows. No one else was in the hall, nor did it feel like anyone was in any of the offices.

"It's awfully quiet here, don't you think?" Rouge whispered, glancing as Blue looked left and right, "Do you think there's something going on out front?" Blue took another glance to the left before answering. It did feel awkward that no one was around, even though the lights were all on, and the airport was in activity.

"I don't know. If Fuse is out there, something might be up. The only way to know is to get out there, though. Should we?" Blue asked, and Rouge looked at the door dead ahead of them. Out there was where the action was. Out there, anything could be going on, and Rouge knew it. He looked at Blue seriously.

"Let's do it!" he exclaimed, and kicked down the door. Before Blue could even respond to his brother's outbursts, Rouge rushed through the door to the front and pulled out his gun.

"EVERYBODY FREEZE!" Blue heard Rouge yell, "Nobody moves... and nobody dies, okay?" Blue put his palm to his forehead, unable to believe what just happened. He stepped shyly out of the hallway and saw everyone except Rouge had dropped onto the ground, fearing for their lives. A few had curled up into balls or hid under tables, but Blue couldn't find Fuse among them. He looked at Rouge after trying hard to find his boss.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Blue hissed, trying to keep his voice down so he didn't scare any of the innocent people. Rouge lowered his gun and looked back at Blue innocently.

"You said that something might be going on outside! I'm just seeing if there's a robbery going on," Rouge replied. Someone stirred slightly and Rouge re-aimed his gun defensively. The person got up, and dusted his coat off.

"A robbery? There wasn't anything going on here," the brave soul said, not realizing what a big mistake it was to speak up to Rouge. Rouge glared at the young boy, who shivered.

"Shut up! I'm asking the questions around here!" Rouge yelled, and the boy instantly sat down again, "So, where were you all last night?" As he asked this question, Rouge walked cautiously to towards the large group of people, all of whom inched away, trying to avoid him. Blue raised his eyebrow and shook his head.

"Rouge, there's over 100 people here. How are you possibly going to keep track of their answers? Are you going to make them fill out a form or something?" Blue asked, in a rather sarcastic tone. Rouge's ears perked up, however, and Blue saw him grin, which scared him.

"That's an awesome idea, Blue! Why didn't I think of that?" Rouge exclaimed, grabbing some paper off of the printer near one of the desks. Then, he began passing them out to the few people who managed to gain the courage to look up. "Here, fill these out and make it snappy! This is an official investigation." He said, which made Blue's cheeks flush with... well, blue.

"Rouge, are you insane? We don't have time for this!" Blue snapped, snatching the paper away from the townspeople that were beginning to fill them out, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. My brother has a bit of a mental problem and doesn't know the difference between his imagination and reality." Obviously, by this time, the townspeople were getting very confused. They looked at Rouge, and then at Blue.

"So... what are we supposed to do now?" the boy from before asked. Rouge was about to yell again, but Blue pushed him over and smiled warmly, reassuring everyone involved that he was there to help, not hinder.

"You all may go. We're simply looking for an officer named Fuse," Blue explained calmly, "We heard he might be here. Is he around?" One of the workers hidden behind a desk popped her head out. She pointed to one of the gateways.

"Just barely. He said something about official IRPO business, and we were forced to let him on the closest plane to Facinaturu. He seemed kind of frantic," she replied, and tilted her head, "But why are you looking for him?" Blue walked up to the desk and dumped a few Credits out.

"Yes, he's our boss. Listen, this IS an urgent matter. We've received reports of Nomad in Facinaturu. How much will it cost to fly there?" Blue asked politely. However, the girl told him money wasn't needed.

"Really? How... well, we've heard rumors, but I didn't think they were true..." she said distantly, and then snapped back to attention, "But if it's official business, I'll gladly let you on board. Hurry, before the plane takes off." Blue smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, miss! You should be proud to know that you might very well be the reason we catch her!" Blue said encouragingly, which made the girl blush, "Come on, Rouge." Blue rushed out through the gate as Rouge simply strutted slowly to it. Before walking through it and possibly never seeing anyone in that airport ever again, Rouge turned back to them one last time.

"I suppose you think this means you all are safe from Nomad," he said mischievously, "Well, you aren't. We still don't know if she's in Facinaturu. So don't get comfy. If you know anything, I _will_ come back here!" Whatever reaction Rouge was hoping to get just didn't happen. Everyone looked up at him like he was a retarded fish-monkey. Blue poked his head back in, wondering what was keeping Rouge after he hadn't come out for a minute. Then, his eyes narrowed.

"Will you come on already?" Blue snapped, dragging Rouge out of the lobby and through the gate into the outside. It felt good to have fresh air finally hit them after being in the sewers for a few hours. The wind blew gently, and the sky was a deep azure. The clouds looked like little mashed potato piles, and the sun beat down on a large, silver plane that had the words "Urgency Flights" painted on them. Blue looked around, and after seeing that there were no other planes to board, he was pretty sure that was theirs now. He walked up the short steps, still dragging a struggling Rouge with him, and opened the doors inside the plane. The plane was beautiful! Solid wood molding and a soft peach wallpaper greeted them, along with beautifully upholstered seats and a snack cart filled to the brim with food.

"Whoa! Nice plane!" Rouge exclaimed, throwing himself into one of the cushioned seats, "Man, no wonder plane fares are so expensive! Just look at this! I get my own TV too!" Rouge pushed a button, and surely enough, a small TV popped out of a little compartment and flicked on. Blue, of course, rolled his eyes. Right now, the plane could have an indoor pool and he wouldn't care. He just wanted to find Fuse.

"Rouge, we have a job to do!" Blue hissed, and then sighed when he realized Rouge wasn't paying any attention, "Oh, fine. Watch your stupid TV. I'm going to go find Fuse." Blue threw his hands up tiredly and walked away. Rouge, who had taken a bucket of popcorn, turned around lazily.

"Okay, have fun," Rouge replied, not really having heard what Blue actually said. Blue snorted with disdain after he exited the room and Rouge was out of earshot. He looked around the new car of the plane. It was completely empty, though the door into the pilot's room was wide opened. Curious, Blue walked over and peeked inside. Fuse was sitting in the captain's seat, looking like he was psyching himself up for something. Blue, unable to keep his concern for the plane in, burst into the room.

"Fuse?" Blue asked, grabbing onto another seat, "What are you doing? We're not allowed in here, even if we ARE cops!" Fuse, who'd been wearing a set of headphones, took them off and looked back at the worried boy.

"Yeah, well, we have a criminal mastermind to catch and I'm not waiting forty years for the captain to get back. So shut up and help me because I'm going to fly this plane," Fuse ordered, patting the seat next to him. Blue's eyes would've bugged out of his head if he knew any worse, but he didn't. He also knew it wasn't smart to disobey Fuse, so he reluctantly sat in the chair and grabbed a control.

"Do you even know how to fly this thing?" Blue asked. Fuse blinked, and then shook his head.

"No, but I believe that if I'm meant to do good, some god somewhere will keep me alive! Now, push the button!" Fuse exclaimed proudly. Blue, who looked much less excited, pushed the button near his control and started the plane up. The engine rumbled, and slowly, the plane lifted off. Blue gulped, knowing that now was when he'd either die from a plane crash or become a hero for once in his life. He turned to Fuse.

"If we crash, I personally blame you."

------------------------------(Where is Rouge when this happened?)

Oh boy... looks like Blue gets his first flight lesson! But will it end in a fiery despair? Or will Blue manage to fly safely to Facinaturu with or without Fuse's help? Are they too late to catch Nomad? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	4. Tanzer: The memorable sky monster!

Disclaimer: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does. I just own this crazy plot!

"OH MY GOD, STEER LEFT, MAN!" Fuse screamed, as Blue pivoted out of the path of the large Trinity Building tower that poked into the sky, as he tried to get out of the city limits. So far, he'd managed to just get 500 feet off the ground before Fuse started yelling orders at him, and he wasn't doing so well with following them. As he kept his focus onto the sky, he saw another tower coming at him quickly and he swerved away just in time. Fuse fell back into his chair and threw his arms up frantically.

"Dear lord! Don't you know how to fly a plane?" Fuse asked, "It's as though you _want_ us to crash!" Blue rolled his eyes as he tilted the steering wheel upwards to get higher ground and to get a safe distance away from civilization before answering.

"First of all, I told you I didn't know how to fly _ANYTHING!_ Second, I'm not the one screaming in the driver's ears, boss. If you leave me alone, I'll concentrate better," Blue replied in a huff and gripped the wheel even tighter. Fuse seemed to consider what Blue was saying. Seemed to was an overstatement, though, as he said his next sentence.

"Now's not the time to point fingers, Blue," Fuse lectured calmly, "We're in a bit of a crisis, and you blaming everyone for your crappy driving skills won't help." Blue was thankful that he was wearing a pilot's helmet, for it hid the fact that he was twitching madly from Fuse's incorrect outburst, and from the fact that Fuse automatically thought he was right. But rather than try and conjure up an Energy Chain or a Psychic Prison to confine Fuse, Blue kept his energy on flying the plane and avoiding anything that would make him crash. For now, it was easy. They were safely out of the city limits and sailing through the vast, uninhabited world between Manhattan, and its closest neighboring continent, Shrike. Blue took a minute to take in the peacefully empty scenery, and found nothing but green grass and blurring puddles and lakes of spring water. It calmed him, if only for a minute, because within only a short minute, Fuse's shrill voice commanded another order.

"Okay, now you're gonna want to turn right," Fuse said, and Blue's already psychotic-looking pupils grew even more, ready to blow something apart if looks could've killed. He breathed in deeply and turned to Fuse stiffly.

"Oh...really? Right, huh?" Blue asked through clenched teeth, "And tell me, boss. How do you know where to turn?" Fuse grinned a bit.

"It's called Officer's Intuition," Fuse replied proudly, "Every officer in IRPO has it! It's what allows us to distinguish one blade of grass from another to ensure correct co-ordinates!" Unfortunately, whatever patience Blue had managed to hold onto from the airport just happened to disappear, and the magician snapped. He slammed on the brakes, not even caring when he heard Rouge being thrown into the wall from the other car. He took his helmet off and threw it on the floor.

"Intuition, huh? I call it the biggest load of garbage since the landfill dumping in '90," Blue said, not realizing that his voice grew with every word spoken, "So far, your intuition landed us in an island far away from anywhere, through a sewer, and into a plane I can't drive! And how the hell can anyone distinguish GRASS? It's everywhere! We're in the middle of nowhere, and you've only made it worse!" Fuse looked shocked at being scolded by a new officer, and when he was finally over the shock, what came next wasn't pretty, either.

"I'm _trying_ to give you orders so we can get back on track! But is it MY fault you're not listening? No!" Fuse yelled back, and neither noticed that the plane was slowly moving forward, "It's YOURS! Now, either you listen to me and go right like I said, or you go overboard and catch Nomad in your own way, with your own transportation." If Fuse expected Blue to be scared, it just wouldn't happen. Blue simply laughed.

"You're kidding, right? You'd really get rid of the only competent officer here because he won't go the way you want?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement, "You're the worst boss I've ever worked for then." The last part, he said without as much amusement. Fuse's frown deepened, and he leaned closer to Blue until their faces were just inches apart.

"Do I hear a hint of superiority in your voice, soldier?" he asked, in a dangerously low voice. Blue clenched his fists and kicked his chair over.

"That's it. You're on your own, Captain Stupid," Blue said, walking towards the door and thrusting it open, "If you want to get us lost _again_, do it on your own. I'm going to go spend some time with my obviously more intelligent brother." Blue said, and walked out of the pilot's room. Fuse blinked, and then rushed over to the door.

"You can't do that! I ordered you to fly the plane!" Fuse cried, looking down the car towards Blue, who was about to go into First Class, "Do you hear me? Aren't you even paying attention?" It was pretty obvious that Blue was ignoring Fuse, so Fuse punched the door and walked back to his seat, ignoring the fact that he'd punched the door off its hinges. Then he looked at Blue's empty seat. The brakes weren't on anymore, and as he looked up out the windshield, he saw that they were about to fly into a silo.

"SHIT!" Fuse screamed, and knocked over his own chair in haste to get to the steering wheel. As he flew the plane upwards, he roared, "YOU LEFT THE PLANE FLYING ON ITS OWN, BLUE!" But all he managed to hear was a slight snicker as he strapped on the cap Blue was wearing before.

Blue, meanwhile, walked out from the car and into where Rouge was sitting... or more lying in a heap from when Blue stopped the plane. The proud grin that was spread across Blue's face was replaced with a guilty half-smirk when he saw Rouge. He walked over and helped Rouge off the ground.

"Are you okay?" Blue asked, as Rouge shook his head to try and get rid of the dizziness he felt. When Rouge felt well enough to reply, he looked at his brother was his eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"No, I'm not," Rouge replied sternly, "My head hurts and I'm pretty sure that wall gave me a concussion. Why the hell did you stop the plane, anyway?" Blue wrinkled his nose, trying not to chuckle a little bit.

"Oh... sorry about that. Fuse just drove me a little off the deep edge," Blue said, and sat down in a seat, "Anyway, did anything happen back here?" Rouge's eyes softened as he thought about it. The knock on the head made his memory of the past hour pretty fuzzy, but there wasn't anything that stood out.

"Nothing I can recall," Rouge replied, confused, "But what did you want to happen? We're in the sky, and unless pirates suddenly find a way to sail on air, I think we're safe." Blue looked out the window for a minute, watching the clouds jet by as he thought of what to say. Rouge did have a point, even if Blue was just trying to make conversation. Finally, Blue got up and walked to the door.

"Well, all right. I'm going to go out onto the back deck if you need me. I need to get away from Fuse before he orders me to do something stupid like jump off the plane," Blue said, opening the back door onto a small deck, "If Fuse asks, tell him I'm... um... well, just make something up." Rouge nodded, and watched Blue close the door. Then he looked out the window, at the clouds too. He watched in boredom as they glided past, sometimes reforming into different shapes if the plane managed to drive right through them.

"Well, this is boring..." Rouge mumbled to himself, "All of the food was smashed by the collision in the stupid wall, so I can't eat anything, and I managed to crash into my TV. There's nothing to do now!" Rouge flopped back in his seat, which reclined backwards so he could lay back. He lazily looked at the ceiling.

"I guess I could take a nap and pass the time," Rouge said to himself, and then smiled, "But what's a nap without hot chocolate?" He clapped his hands, and sure enough, the coaster next to the windowsill opened up and a cup of hot chocolate appeared. Rouge took it by the handle and sipped it. He sighed happily as he enjoyed the taste of chocolate, until...

"HEY! What was that for, fool?" Rouge spat his hot chocolate out and looked around frantically, expecting a burly cue ball to be behind him, but nothing was there. He blinked, and then shyly asked if anyone was there.

"Does it LOOK like someone's there, spiky?" the voice asked, and Rouge yelped, "Oh, look down, you big crybaby!" Rouge nervously looked down into his cup, and what he saw shocked him. There, a marshmallow stood on the rim of the glass, its tiny little arms resting on its square body. And it looked pretty upset too. Rouge put his cup down quickly and crawled behind a seat.

"Okay, that wall simply knocked me out and I'm having a weird dream... I'll just wake up soon!" Rouge whispered to himself. The marshmallow hopped onto the back of the seat.

"Dream? You think I'm just a dream?" the marshmallow yelled, standing on its marshmallow tiptoes, "Well, I'll show YOU a dream, you spiky-edged cream puff!" With that, the marshmallow began punching the air with its tiny arms, and Rouge didn't know whether to be amused or really freaked out. He cautiously leaned forward to have a better look at the marshmallow, and tilted his head. It was probably no bigger than his pinky, and as he picked it up with his thumb and forefinger, he began to wonder if he should really be afraid.

"Wow, you're awfully tiny for someone threatening to beat me up," Rouge said, almost chuckling. This made the marshmallow even angrier, and it shook its fist.

"_T-TINY?"_ it roared, "You're the fool hiding behind a chair and you're calling ME tiny? What can YOU do that's so grand?" Rouge blinked as he thought of an answer, and grinned as one occurred to him. He lifted the marshmallow even higher over his head and opened his mouth. The marshmallow screamed, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" And Rouge simply smirked.

"This," was the only word that Rouge said before he dropped the marshmallow into his mouth and ate it, "Yum. Puffety goodness..." He stroked his stomach with satisfaction before getting off the ground and strutting proudly to his seat/cot. He laid on it and clapped his hands again, this time for a blanket, which seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Now onto more important things. My nap," Rouge said lazily, "After all, I can't catch Nomad without proper sleep, can I?" Rouge closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but a gurgling sound woke him again. He sat up and looked around the empty car. Nothing was around, save for himself and his mug of chocolate. Rouge shrugged and laid back down, but the gurgling noise came back. Rouge popped up and hugged his blanket.

"Blue? Is that you?" Rouge called, but got no reply, "Fuse? If this is a joke, it's not funny." Suddenly, it became dark. Rouge cowered under the blanket as he heard a crash, and realized that the plane was no longer moving. He peeped out from under the blanket and tried to look out the window, but it was too dark to see anything other than a rather long green vine. He turned just in time to see Fuse rush out of the plane and talk to Blue. Rouge walked to the door to listen in.

"What happened?" Blue asked, coming out from under a fallen pipe, "What did we crash into?" Fuse seemed a bit hesitant before answering.

"You won't like this, but we've been swallowed by Tanzer," Fuse replied, "I tried to get out of the vacuum he calls a mouth, but he got us." Blue's eyes widened in shock, as did Rouge's. They had gotten the Vitality rune, so how did Tanzer manage to survive? He was supposedly destroyed when they escaped via the Cygnus. Blue sighed, and closed his eyes.

"So he still lives... this isn't good," Blue said, grimly, "If Tanzer was corrupted at all after Rouge and I escaped with the Vitality Rune, who knows if there's even a way out anymore. On top of that, we've little time to catch Nomad before she leaves Facinaturu." Fuse seemed just as concerned, and took out an old piece of paper. He handed it to Blue, but Rouge was too far away to see what it was. But the expression on Blue's face spelled uncertainty.

"This is an article from the Baccarat Times," Fuse explained, "It was reported that three months after the Cygnus escaped, the people who were missing and were eaten by Tanzer began to return back to their homes, so there might possibly be a way. We'd better scout the area. Are you up to it?" Blue nodded.

"Yes," he answered, "The makeshift town wasn't too far from here, if we crashed in the esophagus. So let's check there for some clues." He walked forward until Fuse stopped him.

"What about Rouge?" Fuse asked, and what Blue said next made Rouge smile.

"Leave him in the plane," Blue said, "He must've crashed into something inside, and I don't want to risk him getting dizzy during the hike. We'll come back in a few hours, though." Fuse seemed to be agreeing, and Rouge watched them leave the plane and walk off into the darkness. Rouge decided to try and find the light switch. He didn't feel safe in the dark. He inched along the walls, feeling up and down for the plastic switch cover, and turned it on quickly when he finally found it. The lights switched on, but they were dim and flickered every few seconds, casting eerie shadows along the walls.

"Damn wiring... I knew this was going to be a bad idea..." Rouge mumbled, looking up at the lights and thinking that if he glared long enough at them, they'd stop flickering. But they didn't. Rouge cursed angrily and slumped into his seat.

"Fine. If you won't do what I say, I'll just watch TV!" Rouge snapped, and clapped his hands. The TV came out, but it was busted to pieces. The monitor hung off its hinges, and the antennae snapped off when Rouge touched it. As Rouge pulled his hand back, the entire TV fell off its support and crashed onto the floor, sending metal parts and pieces of glass everywhere.

"Oh yeah... I broke that, didn't I?" Rouge asked, smiling nervously, "I wonder if this'll come out of my paycheck." Rouge looked at the broken TV again and backed away from it, somehow wondering if someone managed to see what he did. But he shrugged it off and looked around for something else to play with... or destroy. He spotted a remote on one of the other seats and grinned. Rushing over, he picked it up and pressed a button, and music blared from the speakers. The bass nearly threw Rouge back into the wall, and he turned it off.

"Whoa! No wonder this is an urgency plane! People wouldn't want to leave if this was a regular flight!" Rouge exclaimed, chucking the remote onto a seat.

"Hey! Who do you think is gonna clean this up?" came a very snappy and bossy voice. Rouge screeched to a stop and turned around slowly. Like the marshmallow from his mug had turned to life, the mug itself was speaking now. Two eyes appeared over its rim, and it looked angry as it said, "Don't you have any respect?" Rouge's eye twitched, unable to believe what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes, but the mug was still animated.

"Okay, this dream is getting really out of hand..." Rouge said, shivering, "Either that or my chocolate was infused with some heavy drugs." The mug raised an eyebrow.

"Dream? This isn't a dream, boy," it said, and hopped over to Rouge, "We're real, just like you." Rouge looked down with wide eyes at the mug, and blinked. He couldn't believe that he wasn't dreaming.

"Well, uh... sorry. I'm not used to my beverages giving me attitude," Rouge replied, picking the mug up and setting it on the snack cart. Suddenly, an apple tart popped up, and looked just as annoyed as the marshmallow was.

"HEY! Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep here!" it shouted, making Rouge slump his shoulders in both confusion and slight fear.

"Okay, are you SURE this isn't a dream? I don't think I cast a spell or anything, so why the hell are you all talking?" Rouge asked, clutching the blanket, and then screaming and throwing it down when it bit him. It hit the ground and started barking at him, as it crumpled up slightly to resemble a dog with its fur standing on end.

"Uh... down! Down, boy!" Rouge shouted, grabbing a magic wand from in a bag and waving it like a stick to calm the dog, "Heel! Sit! Settle down! OUCH!" Rouge dropped the wand as the dog bit his hand, and cursed. The dog continued to growl and bark, and Rouge whipped his head towards the mug and apple tart and shouted, "Can you help me here?" The mug sighed and hopped towards the edge of the tray.

"SHUT UP!" it screamed, and the blanket dog whimpered and fled under a seat. Rouge sat down and ripped off a part of his sleeve to bandage his hand with. Although the dog was simply a blanket, it somehow managed to bite through Rouge's skin, so he thought to do something before it somehow became infected. He twisted the strip of cloth around his hand, but it wouldn't stay long enough for him to tie it together. The apple tart and the mug watched with interest.

"Need some help with that?" the tart asked, when Rouge screamed and threw the cloth on the floor. Rouge looked down and nodded grimly, so the tart flopped off the tray, landing near Rouge's foot. It picked up the bandage and hopped onto the seat next to Rouge, who held out his hand in delirious skepticism to let the pastry fix it up. The tart wrapped the bandage tightly around Rouge's hand and then looped it so it stayed in place. Rouge inspected the bandage carefully, and finally smiled.

"Thanks! I'm sorry I snapped at you guys earlier," Rouge apologized, "But you really helped me out. I still don't know how you're able to move around and talk, though." The mug looked outside, and pointed its handle towards the darkness.

"It's Tanzer," the mug explained, "He has some very interesting abilities with the Vitality rune gone... eh?" Suddenly, the mug fell off the tray, and Rouge just barely managed to catch it before the lights shut off completely. The plane shook violently, and a deep, loud roar emerged from within Tanzer, which pushed the plane back slightly. Rouge grabbed the blanket-dog from under the seat and hugged it. It whimpered softly and licked his ear as the apple tart jumped up next to him.

"Hang onto your pants!" the apple tart yelled over the howling, "Tanzer's got a stomach ache!" Rouge stiffened, as a horrible thought struck him.

"Blue!" he screamed, rushing to the window, "My brother's still out there!" Fear rushed over Rouge as thoughts about Blue possibly not coming back formed. He remembered the giant slimes he had to fight, and he remembered the horrible monsters that still lived in Tanzer. And if Blue's battle skills were dulled in any way, he might not make it.

"Let's hope he's fast, then," the mug said, "Because I think he has about two minutes before the stomach acid kicks in." Rouge's already wide eyes grew wider, but in perfect timing, Blue burst through the door with Fuse right behind. Fuse practically dove into the second car, towards the pilot's room as Blue locked and bolted the heavy door. Rouge beamed and tackled Blue over.

"You're alright! Oh, thank the goddess! I thought you'd die out there!" Rouge stated. Blue chuckled and pushed his twin off.

"I almost did, too. But we couldn't get too far. Tanzer's insides collapsed from the instability without the rune, so there's nowhere to go," Blue explained, "But he's getting ready to spit us out. We must've caused a very deep chain reaction from all of the fuel we're using. Let's just hope Fuse gets a move on starting the ignition." Rouge nodded, and set the tart and mug safely on the tray, though now they kept quiet, either from no longer being animated or from not wanting Blue to hear them. Blue walked towards where Fuse had gone, with Rouge behind him. Fuse sat at the controls, trying whatever he could to get the plane going. At first, the plane was pretty stubborn, but then it started slowly when Blue charged it up with an Energy Chain. It rumbled forward as the thrusters charged up. The blast of wind from Tanzer's stomach finally hit them and pushed them with enough force for the thrusters to come on with full power. Tanzer's mouth opened up and they flew out, along with a huge stream of acid that Tanzer had thrown up. Fuse steered clear of the path, and sharply turned right, evening out his speed a few miles later. He turned towards the two.

"We're out and safe," he said, and added, "But we need to make a pit stop. The right wing is completely destroyed, and the engine's not going to hold all the way to Facinaturu. Thankfully, Devin's not too far away, so just go and relax until we get there." Rouge's ears perked up as he heard this.

"Cool! I'm gonna go find a decent-working TV! Come on, Blue!" Rouge exclaimed, but Blue didn't move.

"I'm going to stay here and help Fuse commandeer the ship," Blue replied, "You have fun, Rouge." Rouge shrugged.

"Whatever," he said, and walked into the passenger car. For now, he got to relax, and nothing was going to stop that... unless Fuse managed to crash again.

"But what's the chance of that happening?"

------------------------------(What IS the chance of Fuse crashing again?)

Well, at least our heroes didn't spend too long in Tanzer! Good thing, too, because who knows where Nomad is now? Will she still be in Facinaturu when our favorite police cops get there? Will Fuse crash again? Will Devin have a parts shop to fix the plane? Find out these questions in the next chapter, so click that Review button!


	5. Into Facinaturu, the land of Chaos

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. Squaresoft does.

Blue peeked into the second car as Fuse was trying to fly the damaged plane into the nearest town. He saw Rouge had managed to find a TV and was now enjoying the Baccarat Poker game. But more importantly, he was looking to see if the back thrusters had any damage to them from the flight. He couldn't even see from there, though.

"Fuse, I'll be right back. I'm going out onto the deck," Blue said, but if Fuse had heard over the engine, he didn't respond. Blue sighed and walked out of the pilot's room. Rouge noticed him out of the corner of his eyes as he passed, looking very nervous.

"Hey, bro. What's wrong?" Rouge asked, "Did Fuse yell at you again?" Blue looked at Rouge in surprise, not expecting him to really speak to him, and shook his head.

"I'm worried about the plane, and wondering if we'll actually be able to catch Nomad," Blue replied quietly, sitting down for the moment, "I mean, we're probably way off schedule, so she must've skipped town by now." Rouge felt bad, seeing the guilty look on his brother's face. After all, there was nothing Blue could've done, and technically it WAS Fuse's fault they were running behind. He put a hand on Blue's shoulder.

"Don't worry so much. We'll be fine," Rouge assured, "Knowing Asellus and Princess Lion, they're probably putting up a good fight. And even if Nomad skipped town, any other branch of cops would be after her." Blue smiled slightly, feeling a little better, but something still didn't seem right. He simply nodded at Rouge, and then got up and went onto the deck. Rouge looked out the window and saw that Blue was inspecting the thrusters. He also saw smoke billowing out of them, and got out of his seat as well. When he walked outside, he said, "Wow, they look seriously busted up, don't they?" Blue turned around and nodded grimly.

"I know... I hope Devin's close by. There's no way we can hold up for more than a few miles," Blue stated worriedly, and dragged Rouge over, "See how the smoke's coming out? If we keep pumping fuel, the plane might ignite into flames." Rouge's eyes widened as Blue began to explain the scientific formula for creating such an explosion, and cut in when he could.

"Shouldn't we tell Fuse, then?" Rouge asked, arching an eyebrow. Blue nodded.

"Yeah, but I can't leave. I put up a Psychic Prison to keep the gases in for now, but if I leave, the prison's gone," Blue explained. Rouge snapped his fingers, because now he'd have to deal with Fuse himself. But he shrugged.

"I'll tell him then," Rouge said, and then called, "Keep cool, sparky!" He rushed into the plane, and through the car towards the pilot's room. He practically jumped over the busted door and skidded to a halt before the controls. Fuse took off his helmet and looked over at the panting magician.

"What's wrong, soldier?" he asked, though he turned back to the windshield to keep his eyes on the road. Rouge caught his breath.

"The thrusters are becoming overloaded, boss. If we keep flying, we're going to crash! And the plane might even catch fire!" Rouge exclaimed. Fuse blinked, and grabbed the radio next to him. He clicked it on, and Rouge heard Blue on the other end as Fuse asked Blue to confirm Rouge's fear.

"Sir, Rouge is right," Blue was saying, though the roar of the wind made his voice small and fuzzy, "Right now, my magic is keeping the gases from spreading, but any more activity from the engine and I won't be able to control it! Sir, I urge you to land now!" Rouge was relieved when Fuse actually agreed, and started to descend the plane. Blue ran into the plane, letting the prison die as the plane slowly touched the ground. It landed quickly, but everyone was safe and the plane didn't ignite. Blue rushed out of the plane and onto the ground, with Rouge and Fuse following close behind. Although they didn't land in the city's airport, they were pretty close to the city limits. In fact, they could see a few of the taller shops, and the shrine of the Space Lord from where they were. Fuse stepped forward.

"All right... I'm going to go and talk to the airport crew. They probably have some spare parts to help us fix the plane. I want you both to stay here. Someone needs to make sure the plane doesn't get hijacked," Fuse ordered. Blue nodded, but Rouge raised his hand.

"But why keep both of us?" Rouge asked, as Fuse put on a pair of sunglasses.

"You both are stronger when you're together. Simply put, if you're here, no one can take anything from the plane," Fuse replied, "Now, _do not leave the plane for anything!_" With that, Fuse walked towards the city, leaving Blue and Rouge alone. Blue sat down on a rock, and Rouge joined him.

"Well, now what?" Rouge asked, "Wanna head inside and watch TV?"

"No. I doubt we'd get good reception here, anyway," Blue replied, and then his face lit up, "But go get the laptop in the control room. We can check in with local Facinaturu news." Rouge grinned and ran inside the plane, coming out a minute later with a laptop. He handed it to Blue, and Blue instantly logged onto Moogle. Rouge watched from behind his shoulder. According to Moogle, Nomad was still in Facinaturu, but it was still a tough battle for Asellus and Princess Lion. According to the news, Asellus was chasing Nomad towards Rootville, and Princess Lion was currently locked in one of the rooms, having been ambushed by the crafty thief. And if that wasn't bad enough, most people were too terrified to report the problem to Orlouge himself, who seemed completely unaware of what was happening. Rouge whistled as Blue read aloud.

"Okay... well, the situation isn't hell, so there's a plus," Rouge said, trying to keep on the lighter side of the obviously worse news, "Maybe Asellus will luck out and catch her?"

"And then what, Rouge?" Blue asked, his gaze still fixed on the computer screen as he looked for any other news concerning Facinaturu, "She doesn't have the forces to keep Nomad contained, and without Princess Lion, it'll be harder to catch her. Still, I wonder why Orlouge doesn't know about this?" Rouge arched an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I was wondering that too. And if he does know, he obviously doesn't really care," Rouge replied, looking at the plane for a second, "Should we tell him once we get there?" Blue tried to hold back a laugh, and it came out as a snort. Rouge asked again, and Blue decided to answer this time.

"We're going to help Asellus and Lion. We can let Fuse use his words of sublime idiocy to tell Orlouge about the situation," Blue answered, a smirk crossing his face, "But before we can plan that out, we need to get the plane running. I just hope Fuse can get the parts we need..." Rouge sat down as Blue's voice trailed away, and for the next half hour, nothing was said as Blue continued to surf the Internet for more clues. So far, nothing pointed directly to the Facinaturu case, but by the time Fuse was visible along the city limits, Blue had a sturdy list of charges they could bring up against Nomad if she botched in Facinaturu. When he saw Fuse walking towards them, he shut down the laptop and saluted. Fuse tried to do the same, and nearly dropped the large rocket-shaped package in his arms.

"I see you finally followed my orders and stayed with the plane," Fuse said proudly, "I knew you would! Now then, did anything interesting happen while I was off?" Blue nodded, and reported his findings to Fuse as he unloaded a large box he'd been dragging from Devin.

"Sir, I've found countless criminal acts we can arrest Nomad on in case she comes up with nothing in Facinaturu," Blue stated firmly, "For instance, there were over 15 reported cases of theft in Yorkland, grand larceny in Nelson, resistance to armed forces in Shrike, reports of a stolen vehicle in Scrap, an assault in Shingrow, and four assaults and a murder in Koorong." Fuse put down a piece of large metal and listened carefully, all the while being amazed at what Blue found. Rouge snickered again.

"Wow, this woman works fast! So, which charge do we use first?" Rouge asked, grinning and rubbing his hands together greedily. Fuse asked for the list Blue had written, and looked at it carefully.

"Whichever charge is the most recent," Fuse replied, "Although the assaults and murder in Koorong happened in the same day, and in the same hour as well. So, in this case, we'll charge her with Murder 1 and attempted manslaughter in 3 - 4 times, though I'm guessing the murder was of someone she had previously assaulted then. For now, that's a good offense. Blue, go into the plane and see if there's any welding tools in the cargo." Blue nodded and went into the plane. Rouge looked over the large package, and the crate full of seemingly useless metal fragments.

"What do you need a welding tool for?" Rouge asked curiously, looking over at the damaged wing of the plane. It creaked as the wind hit it, and then fell off completely. Fuse nodded his head to the wing.

"We need to create a new wing so the plane stays balanced, and the only way is by melding the metal I've brought into the right shape. Then we need to weld the wing into the plane itself," Fuse explained, laying the fragments out and arranging them to get a general idea of what to put together, "As for the other package, that's a thruster set. We might as well replace the thrusters instead of the gas." Rouge seemed pretty confused, as metalsmith was not one of his strong points.

"But didn't that cost more money?" Rouge asked, looking at one of the thrusters, which seemed just as ready to fall off as the wing was. Fuse looked over at him and grinned.

"Yeah, but we're not the ones paying for it. It's considered a corporate expense, so we're trouble-free," Fuse replied with a gleam in his eye. Rouge's eyes widened at the thought of Fuse being even more greedy and disrespectful than he was.

"Yeah, because that's a mature thing to do," Rouge mumbled, right as Blue came out of the plane, holding a large iron, a prod of some sort, a mask, and something that looked a little like a fire extinguisher, except it started flames, not put them out. He handed it all to Fuse, who'd finished his wing blueprint.

"Those should do it. Good work, Blue," Fuse said, strapping on the mask and picking up the firestarter, "Okay, this is important. Blue, I need you to use a Psychic Prison to imprison me in a bubble." Blue nodded with understanding, but Rouge looked very concerned and confused.

"What? But why? I know you hate your job, but you don't need us to kill you to get out of it!" Rouge exclaimed, throwing his arms up in a frenzied panic. Fuse looked at him with amusement, and Blue let out a hysterical laugh.

"Rouge, the prison will _protect_ Fuse as he works," Blue replied, though Rouge still looked skeptical, "Listen, in order for the wing to be done correctly, it needs to be on a flat surface. We don't have that here, where there's a risk of attack or a small tremor. But if Fuse is in a magic bubble, he won't be subjected to any of it." Rouge nodded slowly, though the idea still seemed pretty stupid to him. But he didn't stop Blue as he conjured up the spell and yelled "PSYCHIC PRISON!" Immediately, an orange net of magic trapped Fuse and the metal in a bubble, and Fuse gave the thumbs-up and set to work. Blue paced around the plane, as to keep a sharp lookout, and Rouge simply watched. He watched as Fuse mended, melted, hammered, stitched, merged, and bent the metal fragments together until the shape began to resemble the wing completely, even down to the finest details. If Rouge didn't know Fuse, he'd have mistaken him for a metalsmith or an artist. As Fuse put the last piece of the wing and cooled it off, the prison began to wear off and disappear completely. Blue ran back as he felt the magic slip away, and gasped when he saw the beautiful replica.

"It's... it's beautiful!" Blue exclaimed breathlessly, "Fuse, you did an amazing job! Where on earth did you learn to weld?" Fuse took off the mask and wiped his forehead, which was indeed covered in sweat. He smiled as he shook his hair.

"When I was 18 years old, I had a small summer job as a welder's apprentice, and for two years he took me on as his partner," Fuse explained happily, "You tend to pick up some things when you have a good mentor." With that, he lifted one end of the wing up, and Blue took the other end. Rouge held the middle, and together they fit the wing onto the plane. Fuse quickly took the firestarter and melded it into the side as Blue and Rouge held it up, then used another capsule to cool it into place. He slid the empty crate under it to support it until it was done drying, and beckoned the two twins towards the back set of thrusters, where the package laid. He ripped it open, and four thrusters sat there.

"Okay, we've got to replace these fast, because we're on tight time, boys," Fuse said, picking up a thruster, "Blue, you're going to unhinge all four thrusters as Rouge and I replace them. There should be a crowbar and a wrench somewhere in the paper, so grab it and get to work." Blue rummaged through the paper from the package quickly, and set to unhinging the first thruster as soon as he found his tools. It came apart pretty easily, though it shattered on impact with the ground. Fuse told him to ignore that and keep going, so he set to the second thruster, which also shattered due to heavy damage. The third thruster, which was right next to the plane's entrance, was harder to undo. It wasn't nearly as damaged, so Blue had to pry it apart with the crowbar. But he managed it. The fourth, however, was the toughest. It took almost no damage at all, and was determined to keep onto the plane, even when Blue resorted to using an Energy Chain. All the while, Rouge and Fuse managed to just finish the third thruster, and Fuse went to help Blue out when he saw that Blue was getting nowhere. With their combined strength, the thruster unwillingly fell off, and the three men patched the new thruster on in no time. Without a word, they ran into the plane, cleaning up their mess as they went, and started it up. The engine sounded wonderful, and the thrusters were working smoothly. Fuse turned on the auto-pilot for the second seat, and took to the first. The plane was off the ground, and had no trouble with keeping balance. Rouge sighed and fell into a seat.

"Whew! We actually managed to fix a plane!" Rouge exclaimed happily, "I say we celebrate!" However, neither Blue nor Fuse seemed as eager. Blue pulled on Rouge's sleeve.

"Rouge, we can't celebrate until we actually solve this case," Blue said calmly. Fuse nodded, and reached into a drawer, pulling out a pile of papers and handing them to Rouge.

"Besides, we need to fill out some things before we can pass into the Facinaturu and Mosperiburg borders. So, get those done and then you can enjoy a soda," Fuse ordered. Rouge moaned as Blue took the stack and began to drag Rouge out into the passenger car with him, and sat down to start their work. Blue handed Rouge a pen and they both went reluctantly to scribbling information onto the forms, all the while Rouge prayed something would cause him to have to ditch the filing and fight. And judging by the look on Blue's face as he quickly filled form after form, Blue was hoping the same thing. Though it seemed a bit cruel, Rouge somehow felt better knowing that his own brother was willing to skip work at this point, but neither said anything.

"Rouge, are you bored too?" Blue asked suddenly, after what seemed like centuries had passed. Rouge, who'd scrawled out a messy phone number, looked up at his brother and nodded grimly.

"Of course I am. And is it me?" Rouge asked, holding up a form, "Or are all of these forms exactly the same?" Blue nodded absentmindedly, though he had no intention of actually checking if he was right, nor did he even care. He looked back down at his stack of slowly dwindling forms and began to write again. If he kept up diligently, soon he'd finish this menial task and enjoy a nice cola. Soon, he...

"SHIT!" Rouge yelled, snapping Blue out of his daydream. Rouge stood up and threw his pen down, and Blue instantly saw what was wrong. Rouge's pen had exploded, and his pants were stained heavily. Thankfully, nothing had run onto the forms, but Rouge was sourly enraged. He kicked the side of a seat and screamed, "I HATE PAPERWORK!"

"Rouge, calm down," Blue urged, grabbing napkins out of the snack cart's drawer and handing them to Rouge, who began to wipe the ink off, "This'll be fine. It's no big deal." Rouge, however, didn't share Blue's calm. He turned sharply to Blue.

"Fine? FINE? I have _INK_ running down my pants!" Rouge yelled, though he didn't even seem to realize how angry he actually was, "And on top of that, I have to do some cruddy paperwork that no one except a moron in a cheap suit even CARES about!" Blue begged Rouge to settle himself down, and after Rouge breathed deeply a few times, Blue ushered him towards the small bathroom.

"It'll be fine. Go clean off your pants, and I'll finish the paperwork, okay?" Blue suggested, as Rouge stormed into the bathroom. Rouge poked his head out before slamming the door.

"You'd do that for me?" Rouge asked, and Blue nodded, "Thanks, Blue. I owe you a billion." With that, Rouge closed the door, and Blue walked back and continued to scribble down forms. It was a dull thing, really. And Blue was beginning to see what Rouge meant about the forms being the same. As he started to pay more attention to everything except his job, Blue noticed that, with the exception of a new question here or there, the forms WERE basically the same. So, then why did they have to fill so many out?

"Is Fuse messing with us? Or do we actually need this many forms?" Blue asked, though he continued to fill out questions. Even if Fuse was playing tricks with him, Blue knew it'd be better to simply do his job and complain later.

Meanwhile, Rouge was in the bathroom, scrubbing his pants. The ink had stained pretty well, but it didn't have enough time to set. A small amount of soap would get it off, though in some areas it just didn't want to leave. Rouge angrily dumped more liquid soap on his pants.

"Stupid forms! Why do we have to fill them out, anyway? That's what secretaries are for!" Rouge ranted, twitching as he scrubbed harder and harder on one particular spot where the ink was stained for good, "Ugh... RINSE OFF, DAMN YOU!" Even with yelling, the ink proved to be pretty stubborn, but Rouge wasn't about to give up. Besides, the more time he spent on his pants, the less work he'd have to do when he was done. In his mind, he won no matter how long he took. But just as that thought managed to cross his mind, the ink rinsed out perfectly, and his pants seemed to dry magically so he could set out and finish his job. And, this definitely didn't make Rouge happy, if not confused.

"What?" Rouge wondered, holding up his magically repaired pants, "But you were stained a second ago! UGH! Now I have to go out there and work?" Rouge angrily shoved his pants on and stormed out of the bathroom, prepared to be faced with a somehow larger pile of those blasted forms than he started with. But, by the time he'd gotten through the door, Blue was already done with the forms and had brought them all to Fuse. And now Blue was sitting in a seat, watching the clouds roll by lazily as the sky slowly turned from a deep blue to a dark purple, signaling their arrival into Mystic territory. Rouge sat down next to Blue.

"Looks like we've gone through the border. It's about freakin' time, too," Rouge said, kicking his feet up. Blue nodded.

"Fuse said we'll be in Rootville in less than ten minutes as long as nothing stops us," Blue replied, and sighed, "I'm just worried about Lion and Asellus. Moogle's reports weren't promising at all." Rouge looked over at Blue, who seemed pretty upset, especially when he mentioned Princess Lion. But he patted Blue on the back.

"Lion can take care of herself, bro. And Asellus probably has Rastiban and Illdon following not too far behind," Rouge assured, "Plus we're getting pretty close ourselves. I can already see the towers of the castle." As if on cue, the loudspeaker blared on, and Fuse's voice boomed over it, warning the two brothers to hold on for the rough landing. And it was a very rough landing as Fuse quickly turned the plane and sloppily circled the central tower before finally descending into the garden and parking. Illdon, who'd been sitting on the bench, practically had to dive out of the way to avoid being run over. He cursed angrily as the doors opened up and Fuse hopped out.

"Good job. Couldn't you try just a bit harder to kill me?" Illdon asked, offering a bitter hand to greet the cop with. Fuse shook his hand respectfully, and nodded.

"Well, yeah, I probably could," Fuse replied, unknowingly pissing Illdon off, "But it's against policy to kill innocents. Besides, that's what suicide is for, though the police doesn't recommend that either. It's considered a grand offense." Blue gulped as Illdon twitched uncontrollably, and relaxed only when he saw White Rose run down from the steps to greet them with the kindness she usually represented the castle with.

"My goodness! Is everyone all right?" she asked, leading Fuse and the others up the steps into the dark castle, "It's a good thing you came so quickly! Nomad's confined to the northwestern tower, but neither Lion nor Asellus can get in. Orlouge won't allow anyone to go in there, though we've sealed up the breach Nomad committed until we can tell Orlouge of this." Blue blinked nervously.

"Wait, so Orlouge doesn't even know?" he asked frantically. White Rose shook her head and pointed towards the northeastern tower.

"Oh no, sir Blue. Orlouge is a busy man, and such a thing is menial to him," White Rose explained gently, as they walked up the rose-filled staircase towards Asellus's room, "But if the crimes continue to rise, and reports continued to be made, Orlouge will certainly know about this. Such a thing brings discomfort to us, but it can't be helped. We must confront him in order to gain entrance into that tower, but we need your proof in order to get in. Without a solid reason, Orlouge will simply ignore the problem." Blue and Rouge looked nervously at Fuse as White Rose and Illdon opened a huge, vine-covered door into a long hallway that led up towards a throne. Fuse nodded with courage, and they all walked into the room. Asellus waved as they came closer to the throne, and they saw that Orlouge was sitting there, high and mighty under the watchful eyes of three portraits, no doubt ancestors to his lineage. And off to the side was Princess Lion, who looked exhausted, but determined nonetheless. She smiled when she saw Blue, and he blushed slightly. But as Orlouge tapped his scepter onto the ground, Blue returned from his thoughts and looked up at the Mystic lord.

"State your unwelcome business in my realm," Orlouge said sternly, "I do not take to humans well, but it seems we have a common problem, so tell me what assistance you can offer." Blue glanced at Rouge, but both seemed to have little clue as to what they should say, and even littler time to respond as Fuse stepped up to explain their desperate situation. And both seemed just as worried that he'd screw up.

"Deepest gratitude, Charm Lord," Fuse started, and Blue was sure Orlouge took it as an insult, "We are here merely to catch a criminal by the name of Nomad. Perhaps, between your busy schedule, you've heard of her?" Orlouge ignored any bitterness intended and nodded solemnly, pointing his scepter to Asellus.

"Yes. My dearest Asellus informed me of this dangerous woman, and I understand that she entered a forbidden area to you and my kind alike," Orlouge stated, "And I also assume you would like me to open this area for you to investigate?" Fuse nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Fuse replied casually, and Blue was definitely sure Orlouge took offense. But rather than scowl or boom in an angered tone, Orlouge replied in a rather amused manner.

"Well, then I hope you understand that I am unwilling to let you in," Orlouge continued, a gentle smirk crossing his lips, "Such a forbidden area has unseen forces of dangerous magic at work, and as Lord of Facinaturu, I am simply unwilling to let any harm befall my people or my princesses. Unless you have sound reasoning, my answer is no. As for Nomad, she is contained until I decide to open the chamber, so regardless, all is safe and well." Fuse seemed taken back by this, and considered it for maybe thirty seconds before simply shrugging and turning to leave.

"There's no arguing that logic!" he exclaimed. Rouge stared at him, wide-eyed and speechless, and silently told Blue to do something. And Blue did so.

"Sir, stop!" Blue called, and Fuse stopped leaving for a second, "Nomad is a danger, and we cannot simply let her remain here! Contained or not, we need to see that she is locked tight!" He turned to Orlouge, praying that his next move didn't cost him an early grave, "Sir Orlouge, Lord of Charms, please forgive my directness, but I'm afraid your containment isn't enough. The people of the other regions and cities fear for their lives, with grand reason. This woman has assaulted countless innocents already, who knows what she's planning as we speak of this moment! I beg of you, let us investigate that tower!" Orlouge seemed determined to keep them out, but he knew they had a point. He contemplated Blue's plea, and sighed.

"You are a brave human to speak up like that," Orlouge said, "I give you credit. We share a problem, and for that, it must be corrected if it puts both sides in danger. I am reluctant to let any enter that tower, not for the dark secrets kept within, but for the mere danger itself. Beasts of shadows, and the dead lords haunt that tower." Blue breathed in deeply and stepped forward.

"Regardless of the dangers, sir, it's my duty to protect the greater populace," Blue said firmly, and both Rouge and Lion cheered silently. Orlouge smiled genuinely, and took a pendant from his neck.

"You have the courage of a Mystic, boy," Orlouge stated kindly, "I believe that it is no mistake allowing you into that tower. It is a dangerous place, but it cannot be helped. This key opens the rusted gate into the chambers. Normally, I would send Asellus to help you, but for this tower, you must fly up in order to reach the first floor." Rouge opened his mouth to object, but it was Princess Lion who spoke the first words.

"Who will you send, my lord?" she asked, setting her sword down. Orlouge seemed to hesitate, as though even he had trouble convincing himself this was a good idea, but he managed it out.

"I will send Ciato to fly these men to the tower," Orlouge stated, and shouted, "CIATO!" There was no response.

"Ciato! Come forth, now!"

------------------------------(Why not just send Illdon?)

Well, at least our three favorite cops are in Facinaturu, and at least they have Orlouge's aid... or do they? What hides in that haunted tower that Orlouge wants to keep so desperately hidden? Why is he so hesitant about his own servant? And why won't Ciato respond, despite the summoning from Orlouge, the Lord of all Mystics? Find out the answers next chapter, so click that Review button!


	6. First Mission: SUCCESS!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or any Final Fantasy reference. Squaresoft does.

"Ciato, come down here this instant!" Orlouge called once again, and he genuinely seemed very angry, "Respond to thy lord or perish as punishment!" Blue looked around very cautiously, but no one new entered the room. Whoever Ciato was, he obviously wasn't planning on showing up, and Orlouge was outraged at the lack of response. He got up from his throne and stepped down majestically, his brown hair flowing out behind him. Blue took note of how the wind stirred angrily as Orlouge moved, and shivered.

"Very well then. Ciato wishes to die, and I will grant it," Orlouge said, but White Rose spoke up.

"Sir, perhaps there is no need to be so harsh," she said gently, "Ciato is one of your most loyal subjects, surely there is reason for his disrespectful silence?" Orlouge seemed to consider this as he stroked his chin to think. He could see very little reason as to why Ciato would disregard his orders. He called Asellus over, and she ran to his side.

"Yes, sir?" she asked, tilting her head. Orlouge looked down at her.

"Dearest Asellus, did Ciato happen to have left the castle?" he asked. Asellus shook her head.

"No, sir. I talked with him briefly outside his room, but I haven't seen him since," Asellus explained, "Though I haven't sensed any loss of mystic energy in this castle, it is possible he's fallen asleep." Orlouge seriously doubted that was what happened, but at any case, he knew the first place to look was Ciato's room.

"Very well. I doubt he'd sleep in the dark of night, but we must search his quarters anyway," Orlouge started, "If anything..." Just then, Rastiban burst through the door. A pale young man, dressed in fine orange and brown silk with green hair, he could not be mistaken for anything other than a Mystic. And the scared expression on his face only added to it. He held onto the doorknob as though he was trying to support himself, and his breath was raspy, as though he'd seen something so horrifying, that he had run over 3 miles to get away from it.

"Lord Orlouge! I'm sorry for the intrusion, sir, but we have a problem!" Rastiban exclaimed, nearly falling over when he let go of the doorknob, "Ciato is missing, sir!" Everyone's eyes widened as Rastiban spoke, and Illdon caught him as he nearly passed out from exhaustion. He set Rastiban on the floor and Orlouge practically glided across the floor towards him. As Illdon ripped off one of his sleeves to use as a cloth, Orlouge spoke gently to Rastiban.

"Rastiban, I know you are tired, but this is an important matter," Orlouge spoke, and Rastiban nodded slowly, "Have you gone into his quarters, and have you seen anything in there?" Rastiban let Illdon wipe his forehead before answering, and his response only made things worse.

"No, sir. But Princess Rei heard a commotion from around the southwestern tower, near where Ciato sleeps," Rastiban replied weakly, "I'm sorry, my lord... I'm too tired... to remember much else..." With that, Rastiban closed his eyes, and Blue was sure he'd just died, but as Illdon picked him up, it was obvious he'd simply fallen asleep. Blue looked to Orlouge, who seemed very concerned with Rastiban's news, as well as his current state of health. And to tell truth, Blue was just as worried.

"Illdon, bring Rastiban to his quarters, as well as White Rose, and tend to his growing fever," Orlouge ordered, "Do not leave his side." White Rose curtsied and Illdon bowed respectfully, though how he managed to do so and still carry Rastiban was a mystery.

"Yes, my lord," they both said, and left the throne room. Orlouge looked over at Lion, and then over towards Blue, Rouge, and Fuse. Then he looked down at Asellus, who seemed pretty shaken up with seeing her friend's condition.

"As for the rest of us, we will see to Ciato's quarters," he said, hugging Asellus gently to reassure the girl. She smiled, and stepped back.

"You're going with us, sir?" she asked, and Orlouge nodded.

"Yes. This concerns me very much, the activities going on within my own castle. I feel guilty with Rastiban's current state, and I will see as to why Ciato hasn't yet responded," Orlouge replied, "Come quickly." He led the small group out of the throne room and outside into what was supposed to be the courtyard. Rain had begun to fall, making the already-tedious trek even more unpleasant. They ran through the courtyard, down towards the southwestern tower, and without a second to stop, Orlouge blew open the door and rushed inside. A few other Mystics popped their heads out of their rooms to watch as the group shuffled up the long spiral staircase into the upper hall. And, it was a mess. Paintings had been slashed, lights had been destroyed, and roses were burned all through the hall up until just past one room. Orlouge glided towards the doorway to that room, and looked down. A single dark feather laid on the floor, confirming his fear. He picked it up and turned solemnly to the others.

"Something has happened to Ciato..." he whispered grimly, putting the feather into his pocket. Asellus covered her mouth out of shock, and Princess Lion growled angrily. Fuse shivered as thoughts came to him as of how this happened. Only Rouge seemed to be overly calm.

"Think we'll find something inside the room?" he asked, and Blue nudged him harshly in the rib.

"Rouge! Now isn't the time to go through the rooms!" Blue hissed, hoping no one could hear them. Rouge looked over at Blue.

"I meant something to figure out why that Ciato guy isn't here. Like a letter or something," Rouge said. Blue blinked, and felt bad for accusing Rouge of wanted to steal. He nodded, and looked up at a distraught Orlouge, who seemed to be looking into Ciato's room out of melancholy.

"Sir, would you mind if we looked for clues in that room?" Blue asked, snapping Orlouge out of his sad thoughts. Orlouge looked at him, and then moved aside to let them through.

"Yes, but be careful," Orlouge warned, "Ciato is a mysterious man, and he has many magical artifacts, all of which display a certain amount of evil." Blue nodded with acknowledgment as he walked with Rouge into the room. It was even worse than the hall. Books had been thrown messily about, some of their pages ripped out and scattered around. Bottles of liquid had been either smashed or knocked over, their contents filling the room with a horrible smell. The dresser was in ruins, and the large mirror by the door had been smashed to pieces. The veil around the bed had been knocked down, and the bed itself was messy and unmade. One wall, which had a blackboard scrawled with formulas, was now smeared with what looked like blue blood. It made Blue feel very feint to see the room in such a state.

"Well, we'd better start searching," Rouge mumbled, and walked towards a messy bookcase. He rummaged through the books, occasionally accidentally causing one to lose its contents due to damage, but nothing looked out of place there. Blue searched the bed, but found nothing except the stabbing marks of a dagger. Whatever happened, it was obvious someone tried to kill Ciato.

"It looks like Ciato put up a good fight..." Blue said, picking up a pillow as the feathers from it leaked out of another dagger stab. He set the now empty pillow case down, and decided to look around the desk and blackboard for any clues. Unfortunately, the blackboard was covered with too much blood and black feathers for Blue to risk wiping down without accidentally erasing any clues Ciato might've left, so he set to the messy desk instead. He took a bottle that had been thrown about off the desk and discarded it. A note now sat on the desk, but it was written in a language Blue couldn't understand. Underneath it were two dates, and two different hours, all four of which had been circled. Rouge noticed Blue's interest and walked over.

"Did you find anything, bro?" Rouge asked, and Blue pointed to the note.

"Rouge, I think this means something," Blue replied worriedly, "But I can't read it. Do you know what it says? You studied a bit of Mysticism, right?" Rouge nodded, and took a look at the note. The penmentship was sloppy, as though whoever wrote the note was in a huge hurry, and Rouge could barely make anything out.

"The only word I can understand is 'night," Rouge told Blue, "But what do the dates mean? Are they for some kind of plan?" Blue looked once more at the dates. One, September 21, at 2.36, had already passed. The second one, September 23, 12.43, had about five minutes before it was expired.

"Whatever that plan is, the one for tonight won't happen unless we find him in a few minutes," Blue stated, putting the note in his pocket, "I'll show this to Orlouge, but you should talk to Asellus and Lion. They must've sensed something going on."

"Good thinking! Yeah, they must have!" Rouge said, as they walked out of the room and into the hall, where everyone else had stood waiting. Blue immediately went to talk to Orlouge, and Rouge called Asellus and Lion over. As they walked towards him, he noted they looked concerned.

"What's this about, Rouge? Did you find anything?" Asellus asked, as Lion rubbed the back of her own neck. Rouge nodded, and pointed to Blue, or more, what Blue was holding.

"Yeah, but we can't read it," Rouge replied, "But that's not important. Look, we think Ciato might've been planning something, but we don't know what he's up to. Did you two notice anything different about him?" Asellus and Lion both looked at each other, as if they were trying to figure out what the right answer was. Finally, they both shook their head.

"No, he seemed pretty normal to me," Asellus replied, "Or at least just as obnoxious."

"He did get into a fight with Rastiban about something, and Rastiban started becoming very nervous about it, though," Lion added, and Rouge arched an eyebrow as she explained further, "I asked him, and he tried to avoid the subject." Rouge nodded, and thought about it as Asellus and Lion discussed their worries to each other. Now that he thought about it, Rastiban was in pretty bad shape back in the throne room. It was possible that he and Ciato had gotten into the fight that obviously happened in Ciato's room, though now wasn't exactly a good time to ask him about it. He looked over towards Blue again. Blue had just finished explaining the note to Orlouge, and now seemed to be just waiting for Fuse to stop inspecting it. Rouge smiled, and walked over to his twin. When Blue saw him coming, he half-smiled too.

"Blue, we've got another problem," Rouge whispered, and Blue looked pretty confused, "I think Rastiban might know what's up. Did Orlouge say anything?" Blue nodded.

"Yes. Those dates? The first one was clocked only ten minutes before a theft in the castle was reported," Blue whispered in response, "But we can't figure out what the second one is for. I don't think the first one's a coincidence, do you?" Rouge shook his head.

"No. I'm smelling foul play here, but what do we do?" Rouge asked, "Ciato's missing, so we can't ask him what the dates mean, Rastiban's injured, so we can't ask why he's involved, and..." Blue blinked, and then asked a very awkward question. Or, at least awkward to Rouge.

"Wait... Rastiban's involved? How so?" Blue asked, "He was in terrible condition when we saw him." Rouge leaned in closer.

"Don't you wonder how he got that way?" Rouge asked back, and then said, "Listen, according to Lion, Ciato and Rastiban were fighting, and then all of the sudden Rastiban starts acting really weird. I'm pretty sure Ciato intimidated him into covering something up, but the question is, what was it?" Blue thought about all of this. It made sense, and it did seem odd that Rastiban was injured even though he didn't report the alleged fight. But what was Ciato hiding? Blue slid the thought to the back of his mind, though, because right now they still had Nomad to contend with, and they were going to have to settle her first. He turned to Orlouge, who seemed quite bored with listening to Fuse.

"Lord Orlouge, I understand that Ciato is an important member of the castle, but we must find Nomad and stop our biggest worry before moving on," Blue stated, and snapped Orlouge out of his bored daze, "Is there any other way into the tower?" Orlouge nodded, and led them towards Ciato's balcony, which had a good view of the tower. Orlouge took off his cape to reveal giant green wings, and told everyone to hold hands. Then, he took flight towards the tower and landed on a balcony almost exactly across from Ciato's room. As everyone let go, Orlouge turned and faced the large crystal door, which although was clear, it showed no reflection.

"I command this tower to open immediately!" Orlouge boomed, and as Blue handed him the key, he shoved it into the small keyhole in the middle. But rather than open like any normal door, the crystal actually shattered into pieces and blew away like snow. Orlouge stepped into the tower, with everyone close behind. Inside the tower looked more like an old attic than any creepy cemetery that Blue had expected, Although there were no real lights, the crystals around the room lit the tower perfectly. Old pieces of furniture and old works of art cluttered the large room, and Blue saw it was no better on the staircase in the middle, which seemed to spiral up for miles. Rouge looked at a painting, and jumped back as it fell over.

"Yeah, this looks like a place Nomad would like," Rouge mumbled, as Blue helped him up, "I mean, look at this stuff! Some of these pieces could go for over 10,000 credits easily!" Orlouge laughed as he passed both boys.

"10,000 is such a small number compared to reality, boy," Orlouge chuckled, "That painting you moved alone is worth over 2 million credits." Blue smiled warmly, and Rouge's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. He could understand 10,000, but over 2 million was simply ridiculous for a piece of art!

"Where'd you get the money?" Rouge asked, snapping around to look at the Mystic. Orlouge shrugged, but didn't look back as he spoke.

"It isn't hard when you rule over an entire kingdom," Orlouge replied bluntly, "But that is another story for another time. Right now, we must find Nomad." With that being said, everyone agreed, either silently or aloud. Blue looked around the tower again. Although it looked like nothing had been disturbed, he still had a feeling that something was in here. But there was no sign of anyone even entering, and Blue began to wonder how Nomad got in, or if she was even in the tower at all.

"There doesn't appear to be any sign of life at all," Blue stated, gently lifting an end of a couch to look behind it. Nothing was there, so he moved it back as it was. Fuse, who was looking behind a tall mirror, poked his head out.

"Looks are pretty deceiving, soldier," Fuse said, and went right back to the mirror. Blue nodded to himself, and looked even more closely. Now that Fuse had said something, more clues pointing to Nomad's presence became so much more obvious. There was a dagger on the crate that everyone was overlooking, and Blue recognized the blade type. Its shape was exactly the same as the dagger stabs on Ciato's pillow. Then he saw some threads of bleached blonde hair, and a few threads of white hair. And now that bothered him. He rushed over quickly and plucked the white hair up.

"I only remember him briefly... at the ceremony in the Magic Kingdom... but Ciato's hair was white," Blue mumbled, and then noticed that Rouge was looking at him quizzically.

"What, Blue?" Rouge asked, knowing that whatever Blue was mumbling about was pretty important. And unfortunately, now that everyone began to stare at him, Blue felt pressured into telling them.

"Ciato's here," Blue said, and held up the hair, "His hair color matches this." Although it was a thin strand, it was still visible. Orlouge took it, and then he sighed. Blue could feel his suspicions grow, whether it was about Ciato himself, or his actions.

"What bothers me most is how he's here with Nomad," Orlouge stated grimly, "I do not think this was a mere coincidence, but where could he be?"

"I could try to sense his power," Asellus said, but Lion stopped her.

"That'll do no good! I've already tried, but his power is too weak to be of any recognition," Lion said sharply, and drew her sword, "I have a feeling, though, that something was going on between them. Now to just find them." Blue looked up towards the upper level, and found where they were at. Although the lights up the stairs were out, and nothing seemed to be moving, Blue saw a shadow, and it looked human. Without another word, and with scaring everyone else to death, Blue stormed up the stairs.

"Blue? Where the hell are you going?" Rouge hissed, as Asellus, Lion, Fuse, and Orlouge rushed up almost immediately after him.

"Nomad's up here! Hurry!" Blue called, and Rouge cursed. Rouge scrambled to catch up to everyone else, and when he did, he saw Nomad standing right out in the open.

"Nomad! You're under arrest!" Fuse screamed, taking out his laser and aiming it at the crafty thief. However, Nomad simply smiled, and walked forward. Fuse loaded his laser, preparing to fire, but it didn't stop Nomad.

"Ha! Your silly little toys don't scare me one bit, baby," Nomad said seductively, and then harshly added, "So, I see you all caught up to me? Well, it won't do you any good, I'm afraid." Lion and Asellus both drew their swords.

"Thief! Tell us where Ciato is now!" Lion roared, but Nomad scoffed.

"That fool? I don't see what use you have for a traitor," Nomad replied calmly. Orlouge stepped forward majestically, his wings stiffening as though he was preparing for flight just in case something went wrong.

"Traitor? How is Ciato a traitor?" he asked, just as calmly as Nomad had been. Nomad chuckled, and didn't hesitate to show any disrespect she had for the Mystic.

"You truly are a stupid race. Don't you get it? Ciato was AGAINST you, Chump Lord!" Nomad laughed, "He's the one who got me into the castle, and he's the reason you never found out about us." Suddenly, it all made sense to Blue. Why Ciato had been attacked, why Rastiban was in such poor health, and why Orlouge never knew about the thefts until recently. And as he thought about it, Blue became very angry.

"You simply used him, Nomad!" Blue yelled right back, and everyone turned to him now, "I've finally figured out all of the pieces. You made a deal with Ciato, which is why Lion was locked up for hours. He ambushed her as you lured Asellus away from the castle. You thought you had everything going well, until Rastiban stepped in. He knew what was going on, so he confronted Ciato, didn't he? And when he threatened to report you, you had Ciato try to kill him!" Asellus and Lion were both shocked to hear this theory, and even Orlouge seemed unable to believe it. Rouge, however, wasn't surprised. Nomad's face turned a very angry red.

"Not bad, boy. Seems you're the only one with a brain around here," Nomad said mockingly, "But tell me something. What does that have to do with me? I didn't personally have anything to do with your Mystic friend. I've never even seen him before." Rouge had a feeling that Blue's point was lost, but it wasn't. Blue simply smirked.

"No, but you had everything to do with Ciato. When he told you what happened, you knew you weren't safe," Blue said darkly, and held up a strand of the blonde hair he'd found, "I found one of these in Ciato's room, and it matches the ones in the lower tower. The dagger you left hidden near the crate? I saw it, and it matches the dagger marks in Ciato's room. The dates we found in his notes? They matched the time you struck the castle." Finally, anything anyone had trouble understanding was cleared up immediately. And even better, they had perfect reason to arrest Nomad. But she still didn't want to go down without a fight.

"Oh, really? So you found my trail. You still don't have Ciato, so you can't actually tell if I'm the one who attacked him. It may have been his friend, Rastiban," Nomad said, but Blue shook his head and walked behind Nomad, towards a thick curtain.

"No, see, that's where you're wrong," Blue stated, "Ciato's right here. I thought it was odd that you were right out in the open, simply waiting for us, and then it hit me. You weren't waiting for us to catch you. You were trying to hide where Ciato is. He's..." Blue ripped down the curtain to reveal an unconscious, yet vigorously healthy Ciato, and said, "Right here!" Orlouge clenched his fists and glared at Nomad.

"Why would you do this?" he asked, but Nomad didn't answer. Nor did she have to. Blue grinned even more, and when he saw that Rouge was laughing, he continued.

"It's a simple reason, your majesty," Blue said, amused, "She thought that by hiding her only accomplice, and disabling her only threat, she'd be able to escape. But what she failed to take into consideration was that you'd have two highly skilled magicians with you, who can easily make heads or tails of her pathetically obvious wiles. Fuse, if you will..." Fuse grinned as he brought out a pair of handcuffs and walked behind Nomad. She scowled angrily as she felt him slip the cuffs around her, but she also noted he had a laser and it was uncomfortably close to her. Any sudden moves would kill her.

"You have the right to remain silent," Fuse said characteristically, "Anything you said, do, and feel can, and will, be used against you. If you're any smarter than you look, you'll actually use this right." As he dragged Nomad out of the castle, Rouge simply grinned, rushed over, and hugged Blue, not caring what anyone thought.

"Dude, you did it! You actually caught Nomad!" Rouge cheered frantically, jumping up and down, "Man, Fuse is so lucky to have you around. Our asses would've been fried without you, literally." Lion and Asellus seemed just as pleased as Rouge, and bore no hesitation to say so.

"Way to go, Blue! Congratulations!" Asellus exclaimed, patting Blue on the back. Rouge let go and let Lion hug Blue. She practically tackled the poor magician over.

"YES! I knew you could do it! You sure showed her!" Lion roared, as Blue picked her up. He set her down gently as Orlouge flew over. He looked genuinely thankful, and the smile could not have possibly been false. As he advanced, Orlouge held out his hand to shake Blue's, and then he spoke.

"Thank you, Blue. You've saved many lives, and many possessions. We are truly in your debt," Orlouge said, "If there is anything you ever need, please ask." Blue saluted, and turned to Lion.

"I have to go, Lion," he said, and she slumped a bit, "I'm sorry... maybe when I'm off work, I'll visit." Lion whimpered sadly, and hugged Blue again.

"Good luck, though it's sad when you only see me because you have to arrest someone," Lion said. Rouge laughed as he passed her.

"Hey, think of it this way! Every time you DO see Blue, he'll be a hero!" Rouge exclaimed, and opened the door, "Come on, Blue. Fuse is probably waiting for us, and I don't need to be yelled at today." Blue nodded, said another goodbye, and ran out with Rouge. As Rouge thought, Fuse was waiting in front of the plane.

"Said all your goodbyes already?" Fuse asked, and the twins nodded, "Good. Let's go. Nomad's inside, and we should get her to HQ as fast as possible." With that, all three cops hopped into the plane. Blue saw Asellus, White Rose, and Lion had all run into the garden to wave until the plane was out of view. Rouge saw Illdon and Rastiban looking at them from inside, and for now, everything felt fine. Well, until they'd get back to HQ. But for now, Rouge knew better than to spoil the peaceful moment.

"After all, it's not like we get many good moments like this..." he said, kicking his feet up for the ride back.

------------------------------(One mission done!)

Well, the twins completed their first case! YAY! But, there will be more adventures in store for them! What awaits them back at HQ? Will Fuse still work with them? And what kind of hearing will Nomad get? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	7. Not another mission!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or any Final Fantasy reference. Squaresoft does!

"I've gotta admit, the ride back is a bit duller than I thought," Rouge said, flipping lazily through the television channels, "I mean, we're so far out of range that we don't even get basic cable!" And it was true. Blue looked up from the book he was reading and saw that as Rouge flipped through, they only had three channels available. The first was simply for the Moogle stockbrokers. The second was educational television featuring the classic act, "I want to be Your Canary" imported straight from the Linblum theatre just south of Shrike. The third featured a video from Garland Studios called "Geistbusters." And unfortunately, Rouge didn't want to watch any of them as he turned off the television and threw the remote on the floor. Blue rolled his eyes.

"There's more to life than TV," Blue said bluntly, resuming his reading, "You could read a book or question the meaning of life."

"Yeah, but that stuff is for boring, old men," Rouge said absentmindedly. Blue clenched his fists, closed his book, and glared at Rouge.

"_I_ do that stuff!" Blue yelled defensively, hitting Rouge lightly over the head. Rouge ducked, laughing.

"Geez! It's just a joke! You don't have to get so mad!" Rouge cried, and Blue stopped, stepping back and taking a deep breath. An aura of blue surrounded him for a second, and then broke to pieces like a window when a baseball flies through it. He opened his eyes and felt all the more calmer.

"It's okay," Blue said, sitting back down in his seat and picking his book up, "Look, it's not that long until we get back to IRPO, so just try and find something to occupy you." With that, Blue resumed reading yet again and ignored any noise Rouge made. Rouge looked around shiftily, and grinned. Everything looked so peaceful, so clean, so... ready for Rouge to just mess everything up! But he didn't know what to do first. The snack cart was right in the middle of the aisle, just waiting to be pushed around and used as a human trolley! And then there was Nomad, trapped in a cage so she didn't hijack the plane. Fuse obviously thought Blue was too tired to keep watch and that Rouge wasn't as trustworthy with the task. But then, right near the back of the car, just left of the door to the pilot's room was a huge stereo system. It was shiny, with tons of speakers throughout the entire room. Surely, this would occupy Rouge for at least a few minutes.

"Hey, Blue? Is it okay if I listen to some music?" Rouge asked innocently. Blue didn't look up as he answered.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Blue said absentmindedly, ignoring the obvious grin growing on Rouge's face. With that, Rouge tiptoed over to the stereo and held back a giggle as he turned the volume all the way up. Then he pressed a button and the CD tray popped out. Looking left, Rouge found a few CDs he could listen to, though the selection wasn't nearly as grand as he'd hoped.

"Let's see... Imperial Beatz... Chocobop... Mog's Music for the Millennium," Rouge read, throwing the rejected music aside, "Man, there's nothing he... HEY! Now THIS looks cool!" Rouge just happened to pull out a CD called "Roufas R. and the Funky Imps" by the local pop artist, who apparently won over 7 Dobbies in the Trinity Music Awards. His grin widened and he popped the CD in, turning the stereo on. All was silent until the next minute, where music blared out of the stereo so loudly that everything either shook violently or fell over. The snack cart was thrown back as though a strong gust of wind just threw it aside, and Nomad was pinned to the wall, heart thumping from the strong bass of the music. Even Blue was thrown into the window, caught off guard from the blaring music. Fuse, thankfully was oblivious to the noise as the door to the pilot room was closed. And Rouge seemed to be the only one enjoying the music, as he bopped around, performing ridiculous dance moves.

"Oh yeah! Feel that funky beat!" Rouge yelled, but the sheer volume of the music rendered the outburst almost non-existent. Blue had to fight the bass from blasting him back against a wall as he struggled to get over to the stereo system. But rather than simply turn it off, Blue readied an Energy Chain as he hid behind a chair to use as a shield against the music. Then, very quickly, Blue poked out from behind the chair and slammed the spell into the stereo, blowing it up and stopping the music.

"Oh MAN! This song rocks!" Rouge yelled, obviously not realizing that the stereo was destroyed. Blue stood up, and silently stalked over to Rouge, an annoyed expression plastered on his face. Then he grabbed Rouge, making the other magician jump.

"You're just waiting for me to Implode you, aren't you?" Blue asked grimly. Rouge looked back, a nervous smile on his face and a drop of sweat running down his head.

"Uh... Hi, Blue!" Rouge replied, trying to be cheerful. Unfortunately, seeing his twin's angry face diminished that cheeriness as he said, "Aw, come on! You _said_ I could listen to music!" Blue simply crossed his arms.

"And I didn't expect to go deaf from it either," Blue mumbled, and sighed, "Rouge, _you_ might like the music to kill you, but there are _other people_ on the plane. And I don't know about you, but I think my hearing is important, especially if I'm going to be casting spells." Rouge narrowed his eyes as Blue sat down, and his immaturity compared to his own twin showed.

"Yeah, well, if you're such a great magician and brother, you would've _known_ I was going to blare the music," Rouge countered childishly, and stuck his tongue out at his brother. Blue rolled his eyes, picked up his book yet again, and was determined to do some reading and enjoy his time off. He only glanced up for a minute when Rouge made a raspberry sound.

"See, this is why the council trusted me more than they did you, Rouge," Blue stated, going back to reading, "You're not as mature as I am just yet, obviously." Rouge stopped spitting and glared at Blue, putting his hands on his hips. Blue, however, didn't look up or even appear to notice.

"What!?" Rouge screamed, hoping to get Blue's attention again, "So now you're calling me immature!? I'm not the one slinging insults, _little brother!_" That definitely got Blue's attention, as he looked up once again from his book, wishing for the patience he needed to prevent him from killing his own brother.

"Rouge, we're twins," Blue said, annoyed, "There's no age difference between us, especially since technically we're the same person, remember?" Rouge blinked, realizing that Blue had won the argument. But he was just so unwilling to admit he'd lost.

"Oh, who cares about technicalities and legal mumbo-jumbo anyway!? There must be SOME age difference between us!" Rouge cried, hoping that maybe Blue would agree with him. Unfortunately, he just didn't meet Rouge's hopes.

"...There isn't," Blue stated, once again returning to his book, "Now stop whining or I'll lock you in a Psychic Prison." Rouge twitched.

"_SO NOW I'M WHINING!?"_ Rouge yelled at the top of his lungs, "_COME HERE AND SAY THAT TO ME!_" If the music wasn't enough to get Fuse's attention, Blue wondered how Rouge's screaming was as the pilot's room door flew open and Fuse stormed out, shotgun in hand.

"What's going on!? Are there any enemies on board, soldier!?" Fuse asked frantically, aiming the gun everywhere. Although he aimed it at Nomad, he knew it wasn't her, since the blast of blaring bass knocked her out like hundreds of wasps wearing out a bug zapper. Blue finally gave up trying to read and threw his book at the wall in pure frustration.

"It was Rouge, sir," Blue said through clenched teeth, "It's _ALWAYS_ Rouge. Now excuse me, for I'm going to go somewhere QUIET!" With that, Blue stormed out of the plane and onto the deck, slamming the door. Fuse looked at the door, and then at Rouge.

"What's wrong with him?" Fuse asked, raising an eyebrow. Rouge shook his head and shrugged, sitting in a seat and kicking his feet up.

"I'm not sure, boss. I guess he's just tired. Can't say I blame him, though," Rouge replied. Picking up the book Blue had tossed, Rouge decided to give it a shot, and opened it up to the first page. Seeing that his "soldiers" were adequately safe, Fuse lounged in a chair and flipped on a TV, watching a special on how mako energy can mutate rabbits into flying bat-like creatures. Rouge glanced up from his new book and looked at Fuse suspiciously.

"Shouldn't you be flying the plane, boss?" Rouge inquired, wondering if maybe Fuse expected Blue to take his place. Fuse simply grinned.

"Nah, I'm tired. Besides, we have the auto-pilot, so why waste my time flying a plane?" Fuse replied cheerfully, sitting back and placing his arms behind his neck so his head could relax a bit. Rouge shrugged and went back to reading as Blue sat outside, huffing and fuming.

The rest of the way back to IRPO was much more peaceful with the stereo turned off, or rather, destroyed. As soon as the plane automatically landed in the quad, Fuse was the first to hop out and run towards the elevator, though his gait was stiff due to having sat in a plane for a few hours. Rouge closed his book, which he'd only managed to actually read a few pages of, and walked off normally. Blue had fallen off the deck from the landing, and was sporting a bump on his head where he'd landed.

"Whoa, are you okay, bro?" Rouge asked, lending a hand to help Blue up. Blue took it and pulled himself up, a deep scowl set on his face.

"I'm fine," Blue replied, taking a deep breath to control his anger, "I just wish Captain Idiot in there had warned me, though." As they walked towards the elevator into the main building, the two magicians decided it was best not to talk about the ride home, as it obviously held bad memories for Blue. Rouge thought of something to talk about as he pressed a button to the elevator.

"So... what kind of work do you think they'll have us do now?" Rouge asked, as they stepped into the small elevator. Blue took out his ponytail and attempted to fix it before they reached their stop.

"Probably more paperwork confirming the capture of Nomad," Blue replied casually, tying his hair back up, "Either that or we might need to prepare to go to court." Rouge looked at Blue with wide eyes, and he genuinely looked freaked out.

"What!? Court!? Why?" Rouge asked frantically, "How the hell did she sue us so quickly!? Oh, are we even going to win the case!?" Blue tried to cover up a laugh and it came out as a snort, and he shook his head.

"No, it's nothing like that, Rouge," Blue assured, "Since we're the arresting officers, we need to be at the court to make a statement and to confirm that she did all of the crimes we've accounted her for." Rouge nodded slowly as the information processed through him. Then he turned back to the little monitor above the door. Right now they were heading past the third floor and onto the fourth. The door opened up and the two brothers stepped out of the elevator and into the quiet hall. Although there were other people in their offices, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of footsteps as Blue and Rouge walked towards their own office, and the chattering of keyboards as they were being typed upon. They finally reached the door, and Blue pushed it open. The office was just as they left it. Relatively clean, though Rouge's part of the room was a pig sty compared to Blue's. The only difference was that there were notes on both Blue and Rouge's desks. Curious, the two went to their respective desks and opened the notes. Both were from Fuse, congratulating them on their impressive victory. Rouge grinned and sat on his desk, preparing to gloat to any intern or assistant that came by. Blue, however, put the note in his desk and turned on his computer. He looked over at Rouge.

"Shouldn't you start working too?" Blue asked, turning the monitor on. Rouge simply kicked his feet up, and raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Work? Are you kidding? We just got BACK from work!" Rouge exclaimed, "As far as I'm concerned, our bosses can kiss our ass." Blue rolled his eyes and looked at the screen. He'd gotten an email, and when he opened it up, he was surprised it was from their bosses.

"Rouge, you might want to get to your mail," Blue stated, "Our bosses sent us something." Rouge nearly fell out of his seat as he tried to get up. He walked over behind Blue and looked at Blue's email.

"Really!? What do they want?" Rouge asked as Blue skimmed through it. It was a simple, formal note with a few dates on it, but at the bottom were the words "Come here ASAP," which seemed to make Rouge just as concerned as Blue had been. He asked Blue what they wanted again, and this time Blue did answer.

"I think they're giving us the time of Nomad's hearing," Blue said, closing out of his email, "But they also want us to bring Nomad up to them as soon as we can. Where is she, anyway?" Rouge's eyes widened, and a worried expression crossed him again.

"I... thought YOU took her up here," Rouge answered. A large teardrop appeared over Blue's head and he narrowed his eyes, and crossed his arms.

"How could I have taken her here? You've been with me the whole time! Did you _see_ me take her out of the plane!?" Blue asked, and when Rouge shook his head, Blue asked, "Rouge, where is she?"

"How the hell do I know!?" Rouge replied, "The last time I saw her was in the plane..." Suddenly, it hit the two magicians as to where Nomad was. They looked at each other, and then at the door into the hallway.

"_THE PLANE!_" they both yelled, and dashed out the door and towards the elevator. Rouge bashed on the elevator's buttons and nearly threw himself in when it finally opened its doors. Blue waltzed in and pressed the button labeled "Q" as the doors closed, and the elevator quickly rumbled towards the lower floor. As soon as it stopped, the two burst out of the elevator and dashed towards the plane, hoping that Nomad was still in there. As they opened the door to the plane, they were thankful that she was. Likewise, she seemed glad to see them, or at least see _someone_.

"What took you boys so long?" she asked, as Rouge unlocked the cage and pulled her out, "I've been freezing in here, you know." Blue handed her his jacket and then turned her around to face him.

"We're sorry. Listen, Nomad. We're to take you up to our bosses," Blue explained seriously, so Nomad understood just how serious this was, "There you will receive the date for your trial, and after that, you'll take temporary residence in a jail cell here." Rouge took out his gun, thinking for sure that Nomad would put up a fight, but instead she just nodded.

"Okay, sure... just get me out of here," Nomad said, as Blue slipped a pair of handcuffs on her, just to be safe. Rouge glanced at Blue, and Blue nodded to signify that she was unable to attack, so Rouge ran to the elevator and pressed the button, holding the door open when it finally came. Blue led Nomad in, and Rouge got on and hit the thirteenth floor button. Then he looked at Nomad, frowning.

"I bet you're feeling pretty sorry for what you did now, aren't you?" Rouge asked, and Nomad simply laughed.

"No, actually, the only thing I feel sorry for is you when you have to arrest me again," Nomad replied coldly, "I've never been kept in a jail for more than a week. I'm an expert at breaking out." Blue tapped Nomad with his sword, and managed to paralyze her. She fell back against the wall, and tried to give Blue a nasty look, but not even her face would move.

"Well, this time WE'RE your officers," Blue said sternly, crossing his arms, "And we're magicians. I'm going to lock your cell with so many spells that you'll be lucky if you come out alive from just one of them." Rouge grinned evilly, and put his gun away.

"Yeah, and I'll add even more charms after that," he added, "I hate to say it, Nomad, but you've met your maker." Nomad simply mumbled, and the rest of the trip to the thirteenth floor was silent save for that. As the door opened, Blue stepped out and let Rouge lead Nomad to their bosses as he enjoyed the scene. The hallway looked a lot like one of the rooftop gardens in the Magic Kingdom, which made Blue feel very happy. The walls were made of glass, and the sun was shining brightly through them. The floor was made of marvelous polished blue marble, and the white furniture in each office made the entire floor look heavenly. Blue found it breathtaking, but Rouge wasn't surprised one bit. If their bosses were anything as egotistical as Fuse, then it was no wonder they'd make their office look like heaven. The three walked down the hall briskly, and Blue pushed open the giant lattice doors into a large room, where a circular table sat, and IRPO executives were sitting all around it, either typing or simply waiting. Fuse, who was waiting in a corner, waved when he saw Blue and Rouge. Rouge nodded, but Blue's attention was on the woman at the head of the table. She nodded at him and beckoned for him to sit down. Blue did so, and nudged for Rouge to follow suit. The woman stood up as Fuse held Nomad in place.

"Good evening, boys. I am the chief here at IRPO. My name is Miss Ryans," the woman said, "I would like to congratulate both of you for the arrest of this wanted criminal. Because of your bravery, we will finally be able to punish her with the highest extent of the law." Fuse smiled proudly, and Rouge smiled simply because he had no idea what was going on. Blue, however, didn't have the same enthusiasm.

"Will we need to appear in court?" Blue asked, tilting his head. Miss Ryans chuckled, and shook her head.

"My, you're one to get right to the point. Very commendable!" Miss Ryans replied brightly, "But no. You're needed elsewhere at the moment. Those dates I sent you came from another criminal preparing to make an attack on the C.T.C. building in Manhattan. The dates were meant to be sent to an organization she was working for, but were intercepted by an ally of ours." Miss Ryans tapped the large screen behind her, and it showed the same note Blue received. Blue seemed deep in thought, but Rouge was still pretty confused.

"Wait, what? We're going on another mission already?" Rouge asked, "Why can't you send someone else?" Blue and Fuse both glared at Rouge, worried he might have insulted Miss Ryans, but she smiled.

"Because we're worried this is over the others' heads," Miss Ryans explained, "From what this ally told us, he's worried that someone is impersonating the founder of C.T.C, Lady Campbell, and using her incredible wealth and power to intimidate the people of Manhattan."

"But why would anyone want to do that?" Blue asked, "What is this organization?" Miss Ryans looked down, and hesitated.

"We're... not sure yet. Our allies have already staked out the C.T.C building, but their chances for success are slim. That's why I'm sending you two magicians to help them," Miss Ryans explained, "The speed at which you caught Nomad was rather incredible, to say the least. And I'm sure you can stop this impersonator as well." Blue nodded, and Rouge smirked, resting his arms behind his back.

"Cool! We're getting into the big missions already!" Rouge exclaimed, "So, you just tell us how to get there, and we'll fry that impersonator's sorry ass faster than you can say "Baccarat's Finest." Blue rolled his eyes, unable to believe how immature Rouge was compared to him, but Miss Ryans laughed heartily, and tapped her screen again. This time, it showed a picture of a large ship in the shape of a giant goose.

"Your enthusiasm is invigorating. But I won't send you off alone," Miss Ryans replied, "This ship, the Cygnus, will escort you to the C.T.C courtyard, where our allies are waiting." Both Blue and Rouge's eyes widened, if not for the sight of the ship, then for the memory.

"Hey, Blue," Rouge whispered, nudging Blue in the ribs, "Doesn't Red work on the Cygnus?" Blue glanced at Rouge and nodded.

"Yeah, he does," Blue replied indifferently, "I wonder if he knows about this." Miss Ryans answered, which surprised Blue.

"He does know. He's the one who sent us the information," Miss Ryans said, "If you know him, that'll make this job easier. I've asked him to fill you in as you sail to Manhattan. Now then, are there any more questions before you leave?" Blue had nothing else to ask, but Rouge had a question. And although Blue didn't stop his brother, he had a feeling he should have. Rouge raised his hand, and Miss Ryans impatiently told him to ask.

"Can I get a cup of coffee before we leave?" Rouge asked. Miss Ryans gave a sigh of dismissal, and Blue dragged Rouge out of the office, feeling that they overstayed their welcome. Rouge struggled until they reached the elevator and were going down into the lobby. As the doors to the lobby opened, Blue dragged Rouge outside towards the front gates before Rouge had a chance to say anything. It was only when they were outside and alone that Blue allowed Rouge to speak.

"Hey! Why did you do that!?" Rouge whined, "And what about Nomad?" Blue, who was looking to see if the Cygnus had shown up, turned to face his brother.

"Miss Ryans will take care of Nomad. She didn't seem to want us to appear at court, nor did she seem to let us think we had to be there," Blue replied, annoyed, "And I dragged _you_ out because you were annoying everyone in that room. We might be heroes, but we're still rookies here. We could still be fired any second, and I can't have you screwing up already." Rouge scowled, and placed a hand on his hip.

"Blue, we've been through this," Rouge stated, "I won't mess this up, I promise." Blue raised an eyebrow and gave an amused smile. Then he patted Rouge on the back.

"Good. I'll try my best to trust you," Blue said, and then pointed to the front gate, where the large ship had landed to pick the two up, "Anyway, it looks like the Cygnus is here, so let's board and see if we can help at C.T.C." With that, the two brothers walked to the ship's side, where the door opened up and a short stairway folded down to let the magicians on. As they went up, the two took another look at the IRPO building, hoping that all went well with Nomad's trial.

"Are you ready, Blue?" Rouge asked, looking down at his twin. Blue looked up and nodded vigorously.

"I have to be. We have a mission now, Rouge," Blue replied, "So let's get going."

------------------------------(Another mission!)

Well, it looks like Blue and Rouge have another tough mission! And just after they've completed their first one, too. Looks like there really IS no rest for the police! Anyway, will they meet Red inside the Cygnus, along with a few other friends who hopped the plane for a free ride? And how will Fuse fare with dealing with Nomad? Will she be punished with the full extent of the law? Or is that just a bluff cops make up to scare people? Find out on the next chapter, so click that Review button!


	8. It's a bird, a plane, THE CYGNUS!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or Final Fantasy. Squaresoft does.

The two magicians stood in the large entryway of the plane as the door shut tightly, blocking whatever view they had of the IRPO building. Now they knew they couldn't turn back and ask for a break or go home and pack anything else, but somehow that didn't bother Rouge. Blue, on the other hand, was a bit more nervous. Even though they'd survived their first mission relatively unscathed, Blue couldn't help but feel like it was just a fluke. He looked over at Rouge.

"Rouge, do we need anything? Once we take off, we can't go and grab anything we might need," Blue reminded, but Rouge shook his head, indicating he was fine. Unlike Blue, Rogue felt like he was invincible from surviving Nomad. He simply grinned.

"We'll be fine. Besides, a ship this big probably has shops and stuff where we can buy whatever we need," Rouge replied, and squinted down the hall, "Of course, we'll need to figure out where to go to get there. Where's Red?" Blue looked down the other way of the hall, but couldn't see very well. The plane was dark on this level, lit only by tiny red globes every couple of feet down. Blue squinted his eyes, which improved his sight a little, but still saw no outlines or indication of Red anywhere.

"I don't know. I'd have thought he'd be here," Blue said, raising an eyebrow, "He usually has to work in the lower levels of the ship." Rouge's ears perked a bit. He'd never been in the Cygnus before, but he always assumed it was a small ship.

"Lower levels? How big is this plane?" Rouge asked curiously, and then changed the subject before Blue could answer, "Never mind. Should we go and look for him?" Blue tried to decide which was the right decision. Judging by the look on his face, Rouge guessed he wasn't having good luck on that one, but he did eventually come up with an answer.

"I don't think we should just go wandering around the ship," Blue finally said, and Rouge slumped against the door, "Aw, Rouge, you know we shouldn't. Look, let's wait here for a few more minutes, and THEN we can go and look for someone." Rouge nodded reluctantly, but didn't give any sign that he agreed with Blue's answer. Blue continued to look down the hall, hoping to see some sign of a worker somewhere as Rouge stood in silent spite in an attempt to make Blue change his mind. Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, a young man in a janitor's outfit appeared. Blue seemed relieved, but Rouge snorted.

"A janitor…" he mumbled, and turned to Blue, "Thanks for making us waste our time, bro." Blue sighed, but the janitor laughed.

"Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to keep you waiting. My boss held me up," he said. Blue smiled.

"It's okay, Red. We didn't have to wait long," Blue replied politely, "I'm guessing the meeting last month went badly?" Red nodded, and Rouge stared at him, wide-eyed and very confused. Last time he'd seen Red, he was one of the top pilots for the Cygnus.

"Yeah… I still think they overreacted though," Red stated, "Just because I crashed once doesn't mean I'd do it again! I was just testing how well this piece of scrap metal took to gravity." Blue laughed heartily, but Rouge obviously had no idea what was going on, because he glanced at Blue with the same confused look.

"I don't think they thought of doing backflips as "testing gravity," Blue joked, and Rouge looked back at Red. Red's face flushed with embarrassment, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"They didn't. That's why they demoted me to being the janitor until I complete the piloting course again," Red mumbled, "I tried to tell them I'd never do it again, but they don't trust me." Blue wasn't overly surprised by this, but Rouge seemed pretty impressed.

"How'd the testing go?" Rouge asked, and it was pretty clear his mind was on one thing. Red smiled and gave a thumbs-up, and Rouge gave him a high-five.

"It was awesome! I was going at over 250 MPH! Everything was like a big blur as I soared across the continent of Shringrow!" Red exclaimed, and went into great detail as he spoke with Rouge. Blue rolled his eyes, having the feeling that Red was probably making most of his story up, especially the part of how he'd flown into Tanzer's mouth and weaved his way through Tanzer's teeth before the beast swallowed his ship. But either way, Rouge was definitely impressed. Then again, he'd never actually been on a plane until he joined IRPO, so anything involving terrifying feats in a plane would interest him.

"That's quite a tale, Red," Blue said sarcastically, as Red finished his story nearly a half hour later, "But tell me, just how did you manage to outfly a wyvern?" Silence filled the room for a minute as Red tried to think of an answer, or in Blue's mind, an excuse or another lie.

"I… uh… well, it was a baby wyvern," Red replied nervously, "It… it wasn't as fast as me." Blue smirked, and Rouge blinked as the lie hit him. He narrowed his eyes.

"Right, and I'm a rabbite wearing a dress," Rouge countered, "Wyverns can't fly as babies. You didn't even fight a wyvern, did you?" Red looked down, and Blue shook his head.

"He probably didn't transform into a superhero, either," Blue added, and Red glared at him. He threw down the mop he'd been holding and pointed threateningly at Blue.

"Hey, that part I didn't make up! Watch!" Red said defensively, and closed his eyes. A blue aura surrounded him, and instantly he morphed into an almost angelic creature with gold armor, though his mood didn't improve much as he said, "See!?" The looks on both twins' faces must've been satisfactory to him, for he changed back only a minute later, and then realized what he'd just done. The looks on the twins weren't ones of impressed inferiority, but rather disbelieving familiarity.

"You're Alkaiser!?" Rouge whispered, as Blue added, "That's amazing! I was wondering how you managed to be wherever he was just a second before!" Red's eyes widened and he grabbed Blue's collar.

"Damn, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone of my secret identity!" Red hissed, and then begged, "Blue, please, don't tell anyone about this. If anyone else knew, I'd be dead!" Blue promised not to say anything, but Rouge wasn't nearly as nice. He simply grinned a very evil grin and stood over Red.

"What'll you give us to keep quiet?" Rouge asked darkly, and Red jumped up off the floor, completely caught off guard. Even Blue glanced at Rouge, though it was a rather dangerous glance, one implying a spell if Rouge didn't cut it out.

"You're going to bribe me!? But… but you're a police cop!" Red exclaimed in disbelief, "Cops don't bribe people! They can't bribe people! It's against the law!" Blue snickered, somewhat impressed that Red knew this. Even though he was Alkaiser, he was still a troublemaker and he'd probably pull the same thing Rouge was doing if he had the chance. Rouge rolled his eyes in an indifferent way.

"Oh please, cops are just as greedy as any thief," Rouge sighed, "Why do you think it takes so long for us to reach a crime scene?"

"But come ON! I don't even have anything to give you!" Red cried, absolutely desperate to keep his secret as it was, "Can't you keep this between us!?" Rouge looked at Blue, and when he saw his disapproving scowl, he shivered. He hated when Blue was angry. He sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Fine… we'll keep your secret," Rouge mumbled, slumping against the wall, "Hey, think there's a chance we can do some crime fighting with you?" Red laughed, picking up the broom he'd dropped earlier.

"I don't think that's a smart idea," Red replied, "I have a tendency to be pretty sloppy with friends hanging around when I kick butt, so it's probably in your best health to not tag along. Besides, if an enemy of mine sees you, you'll be in danger. As a superhero, I can't _intentionally_ put people into danger." Blue nodded.

"Besides, Rouge, we have missions of our own that have to be done," Blue added, and looked at Red again, "Speaking of that, Red, do you have any idea why we were called here? We were supposed to meet someone on this ship, but we don't know who, or even what's going on." Red put the broom up against the wall, and looked pretty unsure of what to say. Blue took that to mean something was definitely up, and Red knew about it.

"Yeah… we've been raided a lot on our way to Sigma 9," Red answered, and looked down, "I can't find out why, and my boss is cutting his time between upgrading the ship himself and finding out what's happening. Hell, everyone's trying to do something, but nothing's working." Rouge looked down the hall with little interest, flicking a piece of lint away from him.

"Let me guess, you heard how we handled the Nomad case and you want us to investigate," Rouge concluded in a dull tone. Red nodded.

"Yeah. You guys did that really fast. We thought if you helped us, we'd at least make it to Sigma 9 with some of our cargo in tact," Red explained, "Of course, we've already lost nearly 75 of what we had, and we're not even halfway there." Blue's eyes widened with worry. Last time he'd talked to Red, Red mentioned that they were bringing nearly 2000 tons of scrap metal to that base to reinforce their cannons. That meant they now had only 500 tons at best, and that wouldn't be enough.

"We don't have much time to find out where this cargo's disappearing to, then," Blue said bitterly, "Where do we start looking?"

"And does this mean we're in for a long ride?" Rouge added. Red nodded to answer Rouge, and led them both down the hall as he explained more about their situation.

"My boss is in the engine room down in the lowest level of the ship. That's where our cargo is," Red answered, as he turned the corner and walked down a short flight of stairs, "That's also where our cargo seems to disappear from. He's starting to wonder if the room's too hot and it's simply melting the metal away, but I doubt that's it." Blue didn't think that was the answer, either. But he didn't get a chance to voice anything as they neared a large metal doorway, which opened automatically. Red stepped inside and beckoned for the two to follow. Inside, the room was warm, but not overly hot, and definitely not hot enough to melt metal. Red's boss stood near the lower left of the large room, and next to him was a large furnace burning with bright coal. That was how they kept the ship aloft, and Blue noticed that even near the coal, it was still too cold to melt anything. There had to be a thief, or another explanation.

"Hey, boss, I brought our top investigators," Red said as he led everyone to his boss. His boss was a rather tall man, wearing a black tuxedo and a trim red mustache. He took a look at Blue, and seemed to deem them worthy of acknowledgement as he shook Blue's hand. Blue was a bit relieved that he'd been the one to be introduced, because he was sure Rouge would've made some wisecrack that would insult him.

"Good job, Red," the boss said, and turned back to Blue, "Welcome aboard the Cygnus, good sir. I hope you've found it to your liking, as I predict you'll need to stay here a while." Blue smiled politely and nodded.

"Yes, it's a wonderful vessel. I look forward to working on it," Blue stated vigorously, making the boss chuckle. Rouge rolled his eyes.

"I look forward to getting some food and taking a nap," Rouge mumbled, and Blue nudged him sharply in the ribs in disapproval. But the boss laughed again, obviously seeing such young workers, by which one of them was actually taking their job seriously, put him in a good mood. He patted Rouge heartily on the back.

"Getting a bit tired, my boy?" the boss asked good-naturedly, "Well, then you should head down into the bar and get a drink." Rouge didn't need to be told this information twice, as his ears perked up when he heard the word "bar." His eyes grew big with excitement, and he looked almost chibi-like.

"There's a bar here?" he asked in an almost innocent tone, and when the boss nodded, he flew out, dragging Red along as he yelled, "HOT DOG! TIME FOR A SPUDWEISER!" The boss simply watched in natural shock as Rouge flew like a bat out of hell. Blue was a little less surprised as he shook his head and heaved a heavy sigh. The boss coughed a bit to clear his throat before continuing the conversation.

"He's kind a handful, eh?" the boss asked, and Blue nodded grimly.

"Ever the more as the days pass, too," Blue mumbled, and then brightened up, "Anyway, sir, I'd like to know more about what's been going on with the thievery around here. Red explained it briefly to me, but have you any suspects we can question or clues we can follow?" The boss gave a half-smile.

"You like to get right to the point, eh, boy? Well, I like that," the boss said, and then shook his head, "But no, we don't have anything that can help us with our search. We've managed to step up security, but even then the thefts don't cease. We're down to our last bit of metal, and if that's taken…" He didn't need to finish for Blue to understand that this could be serious. Blue bit his lip, and dared a question that could be refused.

"Sir, would you mind if I take a look at the remaining metal?" Blue asked, and added, "Perhaps someone left prints or a clue, or maybe there's an explanation inside." The boss seemed to be hesitating on what to do, but he nodded and stepped aside to let Blue into a rather large cargo room via a trapdoor. Inside was bright, with blue lights shining at regular intervals across the ceiling, illuminating most of the room. Of course, that was mainly due to the fact that there was less than half of the room filled with metal. Blue looked at the remaining pile. There was nothing suspicious about it, it was just a simple pile of standard metal pipes and pieces.

"Where exactly do you get the metal from?" Blue asked, walking over to the pile and looking at it more closely. There was a faint line of dust around the metal, and when Blue touched it, he realized it wasn't dust at all. It was something else, something sticky.

"Trinity supplies it from the ore mines in Koorong," the boss replied, arching an eyebrow when he saw Blue's reaction, "Is everything okay?" He walked over slowly to Blue, who looked worried and a bit upset about something.

"There appears to be an odd substance on the metal," Blue stated, "A sticky substance. And I'm not sure we can trust it." The boss took a look this time, and the metal glistened a little where the light hit the substance Blue was talking about. The boss didn't dare touch it, but he didn't know what else to do.

"It could be condensation from the furnace above, couldn't it?" the boss asked. Blue noted the worried tone he had, but knew it wasn't from the furnace. Metal didn't usually "sweat" like leather did.

"It could, but I'll need a sample to examine it further," Blue replied, trying to keep his suspicion down, "Standard security, you understand. If it's something dangerous, we must know immediately." The boss nodded and took out a napkin from his pocket. He wiped a bit of dust off and handed it to Blue.

"Will this be enough?" the boss asked. Blue took it, nodded, and put it into a small bag.

"It should do. If not, I'll ask to be let down here again," Blue said, putting the bag away for future use, "I'd also like to look around again tomorrow and evaluate if anything's been lifted. Have these attacks been often?"

"Yes, we suffer an attack every few days. Sometimes it's secret, other times they outright board us in daylight," the boss replied, and led Blue up into the engine room again, "Most of the time they make off with metal, but the times they outwardly attack, they leave after a while." Blue considered this as he tried to piece together what they should be expecting tonight, but he still didn't have enough information. Right now, though, he wouldn't be able to get any more out of the boss. The boss was already becoming upset relaying the attacks, and Blue didn't want to anger him more.

"Thank you for your help, sir," Blue finally said, shaking the boss's hand again, "I'll get to work as soon as I find my cabin. If you need anything, my name is Blue." The boss nodded, and walked Blue out of the lowest level of the ship until they were in the entry hall.

"Thank you, my boy. I appreciate your looking into this," the boss said, and added, "Red will help you find your cabin, though I have no idea where he is. If you need any more information, I'll be happy to help in any way." The boss nodded once more and walked back down into the engine room, leaving Blue alone in the hall, with plenty of thoughts to keep him occupied. He decided that it was best to talk to Rouge and relay what he'd found, and walked down the long, dark hallway, hoping he was going the right way. There were no rooms on the entry hall's floor, it was just one big hallway that wound around and around, with bulletins here and there concerning the latest news. Every once in a while, Blue came to a closet, but it was almost always full of cleaning supplies. Just when he was sure he was going nowhere, Blue found the staircase leading to the second floor. He could vaguely hear music playing, too, as he climbed the first step.

"This has got to be where the bar is," Blue said, and quickly ran up the rest of the way into the second floor, which as he thought, was a huge bar room filled with tables, seats, counters, and a large dance floor. There were three other rooms, but two were bathrooms and one was the pantry for the bar. The staircase to the third floor was just next to the bathrooms on the back wall, but right now Blue was more interested in looking for Rouge. He scanned the large room, where girls were dancing for a pop contest, and noticed right away that something was wrong. Rouge wasn't there, and neither was Red for that matter. Blue looked around again, just to make sure he didn't miss anything, but they still didn't show up.

"You looking for someone?" the bartender asked, when Blue remained motionless for another couple of minutes. His grumbly voice shocked Blue, who jumped a bit before answering.

"Er… yes. Did you happen to see someone who looks a little like me, except with brown hair?" Blue asked, trying to be as specific as possible, "I'm looking for my brother. He came here with a friend of ours, but he's gone." The bartender put the glass he was cleaning down and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. Then he pointed to the staircase towards the third floor.

"Yeah, I saw them. They went upstairs to one of the cabins. Apparently they didn't take well to the contest going on," the bartender said, "That twin of yours asked me to tell you if you came looking." When the bartender turned his back to make a drink, Blue rolled his eyes. He couldn't see why the bartender just didn't tell him right away if he looked like Rouge. But he stuffed that annoyance in a box in his mind and walked up the stairs, ignoring two girls as they exclaimed how cute they thought he was. To his surprise, when he reached the third floor, all of the noise seemed to vanish. He was now in a long hallway with doors dotting either side. And all of them led into very neat, private rooms. A few were closed, but most were open. Blue hoped it wouldn't be too hard to find Rouge as he started down on the left side.

"What do you want!?" came the shrill voice of an angry woman as Blue knocked on one random door. She came out, and Blue shivered. She was very big, and had on an ugly green housecoat. She wore way too much make-up for her own good, and she was missing teeth, which only made her curly blonde hair look worse.

"I'm… looking for a guy named Rouge. Have you seen him?" Blue asked, praying to the goddesses that this wouldn't take too long. The woman snorted and pointed to a door with a sign that said "Don't disturb."

"Yeah, I heard him and his stupid friend make a ruckus out here. I threatened to beat 'em with a pan if they didn't shut their traps," the woman replied, grinning, "Are you part of security?" Blue's eyes widened in horror.

"N-no, ma'am! Thank you!" Blue exclaimed, and bolted away before he had another second to have to spend with her. He didn't even look back to see if she went back inside, nor was he paying attention to where he was running as he slammed into the indicated door, knocking it right off its hinges. Lo and behold, Rouge and Red were sitting on the floor, and they looked at him curiously.

"Finally, you found us," Rouge stated impatiently, "I was beginning to wonder if that boss guy was chewing your ears off or something." Blue picked himself off the floor and tried to fix the door before answering, but only managed to make the problem worse. Red went to help him, and noticed how pale he was.

"Blue? Are you okay?" he asked with concern. Blue shook his head and wiped the sweat away, as Rouge pulled over a chair so his brother could sit down.

"No. This trashy-looking woman scared the daylights out of me," Blue replied, panting, "I'm pretty sure she was trying to hit on me." Rouge snorted, and even Red managed a chuckle as he properly put the door in its frame.

"Oh, that's Mrs. Blottson," Red told Blue, as he went back to his spot on the floor, "She basically lives on the ship, though no one knows why. But we're ALL too afraid to kick her out. Last time my boss tried, she went after him with a Hyperion Bazooka." Rouge's laugh became even louder, and he patted Blue's knee.

"Way to go, bro! You sure know how to attract a winner!" Rouge said through a bout of laughs. That rewarded him with a heavy hit with a police club, and he fell over backwards.

"Rouge, shut up," Blue said sternly, "Like you have any more luck with women."

"I do so have better luck!" Rouge yelled defensively, but it did no good.

"Then why do I have a girlfriend and you don't?" Blue asked, smirking, "And don't tell me Lion doesn't count." Rouge choked back an insult, pouted, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Arguing would only make him more of a fool. Red decided to step in before anything else could be said, anyway.

"So… did my boss tell you anything helpful?" Red asked, hoping to change the subject. Blue nodded, and Rouge listened intently as Blue relayed everything.

"The attack pattern is what intrigues me the most, though," Blue said as he finished, "Why would they only steal the cargo every few attacks? Not to mention the dust I found on the metal… I'm worried it's more than just dust." Blue took out the bag he'd collected and handed it to Rouge, who looked at the contents with faint interest. It looked more like a powder than anything.

"Did the boss know what it was?" Red asked, but Blue shook his head as Rouge handed Red the bag.

"No. In fact, he didn't seem so worried about it in the least," Blue replied, as Red looked at the powder. It was white in color, now that it was away from the heat. Red delicately opened the bag up and took a sniff, but didn't smell anything weird. He didn't dare touch or taste it, though. There was a chance it was poison. He handed the bag back to Blue.

"Whatever it is, it should probably be checked," Red said, as Blue put the bag away.

"Yeah, but that'd imply sending it back to the IRPO labs," Rouge stated, waving his arm, "We're already pretty far away from them, so what good will that do? By the time we have it checked, the rest of the cargo might be gone."

"Not necessarily," Red replied brightly, "See, we have a small lab in the ship. That's how we're able to make enough coal so quickly to power the ship when we can't get any from Trinity. I might be able to pull some strings and let you both through." Rouge's head perked up, suddenly interested in the use of a lab. Though, in Blue's mind, he probably wanted to make something to blow the place up.

"You can do that!?" Rouge asked, surprised. Obviously, he didn't think janitors could do much of anything except sweep floors. Red nodded.

"Of course. I'll have to speak to my boss, though, but I can probably convince him," Red answered, and got off the floor, "I'll be back in a bit, so don't poke around the ship too much without me." With that, Red ran out, leaving the two brothers to sit and wait. Blue grabbed a book off the table and opened it up to do his signature reading. Rouge, however, jumped onto the bed and curled up on it.

"Think he can convince him?" Rouge asked, after a few minutes of painful silence. Blue turned a page to his book.

"He should. Besides, the boss said he'd leave some stuff open for us to look through," Blue replied, though he didn't look up from his book, "All we can do is wait, though. We don't want to attract attention right now, and I really don't want to deal with Mrs. Blottson again." Rouge laughed, though he didn't really blame Blue for not wanting to go. After all, HE was threatened by a frying pan. He certainly wanted to avoid her too. He rolled onto his back and looked at the beige ceiling, counting the tiles for lack of anything else to do at the moment.

"Man, I hope he gets back soon…"

-----------------------------(Alkaiser the Super Janitor!)

Well, at least our favorite pair of twins are well on their way to getting a lead on the case! But can Red convince his boss to open up the lab for them, or will his request be denied because he's a janitor? Will the Cygnus be attacked? Will more cargo be stolen? And will Fuse return? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	9. Unlikely secrets and ingenius plans!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or any Final Fantasy references. Squaresoft does.

Blue sat on the floor, looking around the room nervously while waiting for Red to return. Rouge had originally taken to counting the ceiling tiles, but now it looked as though he was napping. The halls outside the room were silent, save for the slight whisper of the wind outdoors, and nothing indicated that Red was coming back.

"Rouge, did Red say he was coming right back?" Blue asked, when nearly an hour passed, "Rouge?" Rouge snored lightly and turned over, accidentally throwing a pillow off the bed. Blue got off the floor and looked at Rouge.

"_ROUGE!_" Blue hissed, and his voice became shrill enough to wake Rouge up and cause the startled magician to fall off the bed and crash onto the floor. Rouge shook his head to make sure he was actually up, and then scrambled to the floor, glaring at his twin.

"What!? What was that for!?" Rouge snapped angrily, "I was just about to shake hands with Terra Branford!" Blue rolled his eyes as Rouge continued to rant about his dream, and took an opportunity when Rouge stopped to catch his breath.

"Rouge, stop," Blue commanded, and then said calmly, "It's been a while. Where did Red say he was going?" Rouge stopped fuming, and his expression turned to slight concern.

"He said he was going to talk to his boss about letting us use the lab," Rouge replied quietly, picking the pillow up and putting it back on his bed, "Maybe he's just being held up. You know how bosses are. Besides, Red's a janitor. If there's a mess, he's the one who has to clean it up." Rouge seemed to have satisfied his own worry as he sat back on his bed and took a magazine out to read, but something was still bothering Blue. Even though the boss was on the lowest deck of the ship, Red should've been back by now. But Rouge made a point, perhaps Red just had a run-in somewhere.

"So should we just continue to wait for him?" Blue asked after another minute. Rouge lowered his magazine and peered over the top towards Blue, a little upset that Blue was becoming so worried.

"What more can we do? We shouldn't just scope out the entire ship," Rouge stated simply, and then said, "Look, if you're that worried, we can search after I finish this article. But honestly, Red's been known to be late to these sort of things." Blue nodded, and looked at the door for any signs of entrance. Rouge sighed and continued his own reading. Whatever Blue was worried about, he shouldn't let it bother with _his_ agenda. But a crash somewhere far away made both brothers jump, and once again Rouge fell off the bed.

"What the hell was that!?" Rouge asked, recovering from his fall. Blue threw open the door and ran out into the hall. Although no one was currently in there, people were beginning to come out of their own rooms, as they had no doubt come to investigate what the noise was for themselves. Rouge soon followed Blue into the hallway.

"Did you see anything!?" Rouge asked, fumbling for his gun. Blue found his gun and shook his head as he loaded it and clicked it. He held it sternly and briskly walked down the hall as another crash was heard.

"Everyone remain in your rooms! We are with IRPO!" Blue said loudly, and thankfully, people responded. They shuffled back into their rooms as calmly as possible and closed their doors as Blue and Rouge passed quickly. Sharply, Blue turned a corner and walked down the stairs as another crash was set off.

"It's down here, I think," Blue said, and ran down the rest of the stairs. Since Rouge was still on the landing, he simply jumped over the railing and landed gracefully behind Blue. Without another word, they continued down the hall of the lower deck as alarms began to sound.

"Alarms? Man, this must be serious," Rouge said regretfully, as they passed an office, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, bro." They turned another corner and ran down a short flight of stairs before Blue answered.

"It's okay. Right now, we need to know what's going on," Blue said, as he stopped and poked his head into a random room, "There's no one here. Rouge, let's split up. If you find anyone outside, ask them what's happening and tell them to get into a room immediately. This could be an attack." Rouge nodded, but didn't hesitate as he dashed towards the other end of the hall and burst into a room. Blue rushed towards another door and blew it open with an Energy Chain. He was in the engine room, and there was Red's boss. But Red wasn't there. Blue immediately rushed to the boss.

"Sir, what's going on!?" Blue asked frantically, as a group of people ran down the hall towards the nearest exit, Rouge assisting them whatever way he could. The boss shoved more coal into the furnace, and wiped his forehead as he turned to Blue.

"It's as I feared, boy," he replied, exhaustion in his voice, "We're under attack. I'm trying to get this ship back into the IRPO port, or the closest one I can, but I'm not having much luck." He tossed another bunch of coal into the furnace, which hissed reluctantly. Blue felt the ship trying to turn, but having very little luck.

"Sir, it's dangerous here. Rouge's getting everyone off the ship," Blue explained, when Rouge popped his head in to see what was happening, "Go with him, get out of the ship." The boss shook his head.

"I can't, my boy," the boss said wearily, "We still have the rest of the metal. I can't abandon it." Rouge rolled his eyes, walked in, and grabbed the boss's arms, attempting to drag the man out.

"Forget about the metal! We'll get you some new metal!" Rouge huffed, as dragging the resisting boss proved to be a struggle, "Are you telling me some stupid alloy is more important than your life!?" The boss stopped struggling and sighed.

"That metal is for a new super weapon we're developing in Shrike," the boss admitted, "Not for any war in particular, but as an advanced safety measure for cruise ships like ours. If we lose it, I'm worried that whoever does have it will use it for horrible means." Blue certainly didn't blame the boss for having concerns. But even so, protecting the boss was more important as of now. He could always find a way to intercept the thief later. Rouge stepped aside to let Blue talk some sense to the boss.

"I know you're worried, but we'll catch the thief," Blue assured, "Just please get out of the ship with Rouge. I'll find a way to trap our attackers." The boss was hesitant, not because he distrusted Blue, but because he didn't want anyone to be left behind if he ran away. But he nodded slowly. Blue turned to Rouge and said, "Bring him to the escape crafts. Ships this size have them somewhere." Rouge nodded quickly, and rushed out of the engine room with the boss, leaving Blue to plan a strategy.

"Okay, tell me where these pods are, gramps," Rouge said, as they dashed through the hall and up the stairs as a crowd of tourists stampeded through to the nearest escape. The boss pointed up the stairwell.

"At the end of the residential cabins are where we keep the crafts," the boss explained, as Rouge urged him to keep up as they dashed through the corridors, avoiding passengers, "There's another room on this floor, but it's probably full of passengers." Rouge saw a huge crowd of worried faces at one end of the hall and cursed. The boss was right, as Rouge saw a glimpse of the room with a few small aircrafts, and all of them were filled instantly. Rouge dragged the boss up onto the next floor, and through the bar and up the stairs yet again as more people filed down the stairs to get to the escape room. Thankfully, now the hall was nearly empty as they approached the cabins. Only a few people stood outside the escape room on this floor. Rouge saw that one of them was a friend, too.

"Emelia?! What are you doing here?" Rouge asked, slowing down to a walk and letting go of the boss, who seemed to be catching his breath. Emelia, a young blonde woman in a combat suit, smiled when she saw Rouge and waved.

"I should ask you the same thing!" she exclaimed, "I'm here on a mission with my two friends, Annie and Liza. What about you?"

"I'm on duty with Blue," Rouge replied plainly, "We work for IRPO right now. Anyway, you'd better get in there, I think Blue said we're under an attack from thieves. He's going to try and trap them while we escape." Emelia looked at her two friends, and then back at Rouge.

"I don't know… if Blue's still here, shouldn't we wait for him?" Emelia asked, but Rouge shook his head vigorously.

"No. Blue made it clear, he wants everyone off the ship," Rouge said sternly, "Listen, take the captain here and get out as fast as you can. I'll stay with Blue and take those idiots out." Emelia nodded, but her friend, Annie, protested.

"Why can't we help!? I'm not afraid of robbers!" she boomed excitedly, "I'll take them with both arms tied behind my back! And blindfolded, too!" Rouge laughed a bit at the girl's enthusiasm, and would've loved to see some fighting, but he knew better than to risk the life of a passenger. He simply pointed to the escape room's door.

"A brave gesture, but this is police work. Now, get going, girls," Rouge commanded. Emelia helped the boss out as Liza held the door opened. Annie followed reluctantly, and when Liza finally slipped through, Rouge decided to go back and help Blue out. He was happy to hear many smaller engines take off as he made his way back down to the lowest level of the ship, as it meant most to all of the passengers had gotten out. Unfortunately, whatever happiness was felt instantly left as a door on the deck was blown open, and Rouge heard the heavy sound of clad boots. He slowed to quiet his steps as he heard voices behind him, but he got away before anyone came around. He didn't want to hear anything, all he wanted was to warn Blue. He burst into the engine room and saw that Blue had gone into the secret room with all of the metal.

"Blue! Blue, we have a problem!" Rouge said quickly, slamming the engine room door, "Everyone's gone, but I'm pretty sure the thieves boarded the Cygnus!" Since Blue was preoccupied with the metal at the moment, it took him a while before he even realized Rouge was speaking to him.

"Huh…? What?" Blue asked, turning around after five minutes, "Sorry, Rouge. I was trying to think of a way to rig this room. Did you say something?" Rouge grumbled a bit in his mind, but didn't hesitate to repeat himself.

"I think there are thieves on board, bro!" Rouge repeated, worried. Blue's eyes widened, and he immediately drew out his gun.

"What!? Thieves!?" Blue exclaimed in shock, "But… is everyone all right!?"

"Yeah, they all escaped," Rouge replied, which calmed Blue down. At least they wouldn't have to worry about shooting innocent bystanders. Blue nodded approvingly at Rouge, and walked up into the engine room. He was glad to see that the door was shut and locked, at least for now they had a defense. He inched towards the door, and heard footsteps pass them, but no one outside said anything.

"So they're down here already," Blue whispered, though it was mostly to himself, "I wonder if they know where the metal's hidden." Rouge shivered, and carefully drew out his gun and loaded it.

"What do we do?" he asked, as Blue pressed up against the door silently to see if he could hear anything. This time, there was talking outside, but because of the thick metal door, it was muffled to a certain extent.

"…and then we'll take it back to Lad…"

"…super weapon…"

"…lots of cash… Campbell's part…"

"What are they saying?" Rouge whispered, as he kept himself behind Blue. Blue shook his head to mean that he couldn't hear well, but when Rouge didn't understand, he answered.

"I'm not sure, but it's about a weapon of some kind," Blue whispered back, "They're taking the metal somewhere, that's definitely for sure, but where is another question."

"Did they drop any names?" Rouge asked, as the voices went further down the hall. Blue nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Something about Campbell. Does it sound familiar?" Blue asked. Rouge looked down to think for a minute. The name did ring a bell, but he couldn't remember from where. He looked around the room absently until his eyes fell on a can in the small microwave, and he snapped his fingers.

"Oh! Isn't Campbell's a company that makes soup?" Rouge asked, feeling he'd scored a point. But Blue laughed, and shook his head.

"Yeah, but I doubt they'd bring infected alloy there," Blue said, "No, there's got to be another company with the name Campbell. Did you find Red? Maybe he knows." Rouge looked down sadly.

"I didn't find him anywhere, Blue," Rouge stated, "I'm worried. What if he's the first thing the thieves got to?" Blue looked thoughtful. That was a possibility, but somehow he didn't think Red was a target for a number of reasons.

"I don't know," Blue said, and then added, "We should go find him. There's a vent in here, if we go through that way, the thieves won't be able to get in and find the metal." Rouge looked around and saw the vent Blue was talking about, above some crates in the corner. It was a small opening, but they might be able to get in. If they could get the door off first. Rouge walked over, climbed the crates, and pulled on the door. Not surprisingly, it didn't budge, even when he threw an Energy Chain at it.

"It's a good idea, but the door's heavy, bro," Rouge stated, hopping off of the crates, "Think there's a key somewhere?" Blue took a closer look at the metal door. It did look strong, and it was made of titanium, not steel. There were no keyholes anywhere to indicate that a key went with it. Blue sighed and shook his head grimly.

"There's no keyhole. But maybe we can pry the door off," Blue suggested, and pointed towards another crate near the furnace, "Rouge, I think I saw a crowbar over there. Let's use that." Rouge looked to where Blue was pointing, and something gleamed in the fire light. Curious, Rouge walked over, and scooped up the crowbar. He ran back to Blue and presented it heartily.

"Let's pry that sucker off!" Rouge exclaimed, as Blue secured the tool. Thankfully, the crowbar was long, so neither magician had to stand on a crate to tug at it. They pushed and pulled on the crowbar with all of their strength. At first, it didn't seem like anything was happening, but then Blue heard a quiet squeaking noise, and when he gave one last push, the door flew off the vent, spraying stray nails and a hinge everywhere. Protectively, Blue shielded Rouge from the metal nails bulleting towards them, and dusted his shirt off when the onslaught stopped.

"I hope the captain doesn't mind a broken vent," Blue said casually, climbing the crates and into the vent. Rouge gave a little laugh and followed his brother. It didn't take him long to regret Blue's idea. The vent was cramped, dark, and filthy. Dust covered the floor of the vent, and this unpleasant muck covered the rest of the walls. The smell of musk filled the air, making Rouge cough and Blue sneeze. And if that wasn't bad enough, there was a horrible drilling sound to go with it, most probably from the ship's engine.

"Damn, doesn't anyone think to clean in here!?" Rouge demanded, after his coughing fit stopped. Blue squinted his eyes to see if anything was up ahead before replying with a snide remark.

"It's a vent, Rouge. Even if it was cleaned, the filtering it has to do daily would make it dirty again in no time," Blue said bluntly, "Besides, I'm sure someone would quit after being forced to go in here."

"I can see why! This place is nasty!" Rouge exclaimed, as they continued to crawl down the tunnel, "Hey, where are we supposed to go, anyway?" Blue stopped to consider where they should head to, and Rouge accidentally crashed into him. Because of the slippery muck, Blue ended up slipping, and grabbed Rouge's collar to steady himself. Unfortunately, Rouge was caught off guard, and they both slid through the vent, only to crash through another door on the other end and slam into the unforgiving, and unamused, ground below. Rouge recovered faster than Blue, as Blue had broken his fall, and he scrambled to his feet, looking around.

"Where the hell are we!?" Rouge whispered sharply, because he could hear someone talking outside. Blue rubbed his eyes wearily, and looked around. They were in a nice, spacious suite, despite being on the lowest level. Then it hit Blue where they were.

"Rouge, we're in the captain's room," Blue replied, keeping his voice down just so Rouge could hear him, "And by the sound of things, we're no better off here." Although Rouge didn't show any signs of it, he agreed with Blue as he walked over to the desk.

"But something here doesn't seem right. I overheard you and the captain, and he didn't seem as worried as he should be," Rouge stated suspiciously, opening the main compartment up, "And I doubt he could possibly be used to thefts, even if they've been happening for a while." Blue stood up and watched as Rouge took out a pile of envelopes, papers, and graphs, and set them up on the bed.

"You think the captain is behind this?" Blue asked, "But why would he attack his own ship?" Rouge sat down and began sifting through his pile.

"I don't know what to think, but all I'm saying is that he didn't care that the ship was damaged, he only cared about the metal inside," Rouge said as he looked over one piece of paper, "If he knows something, he's covering it up with this attack. This happened too soon in our arrival to be an accident. Plus with Red missing, that only adds to the suspicion." Blue had to agree with that, even though the thought was still unlikely to him. Finally, something caught his eye, and he picked up one of the graphs Rouge had dragged out. He looked it over, blinked, and looked it over again. It was a graph describing the money he was getting for delivering the metal, and then how much he was getting for something else involving the metal. Blue tapped Rouge on the shoulder.

"Rouge, I think I found something," Blue said quickly, and that caught Rouge's attention, "Look at this." Rouge looked over the paper from Blue's shoulder, and cursed again.

"I smell a bribe here," he said, going over the two figures, "Why is he getting money for delivering it to one place, and then for letting someone else pick up the metal?" Blue looked over towards the right margin of the form, above the second set of numbers. The letters CA were scribbled there, and Blue knew it meant something.

"What could CA stand for?" he asked, setting the graph down, "He said he was delivering this cargo for the research lab in Shrike. Besides Nakajima Robotics, the only other research lab is the Biotech Institute. Was he lying to us?" Rouge snorted angrily.

"Either that or he's playing double sides to score some cash," Rouge muttered grimly, "CA could be an initial for someone, but who would have the connections to bribe the captain if he works for Trinity? Trinity knows better than to bribe anyone. And if this research is for them in the first place, why bother bribing the captain at all?"

"We need a list of businesses that have anything to do with the Cygnus," Blue said, taking a blank page and scribbling on it, "So far there's Trinity, and Nakajima. Red had to visit Koorong, so I'll write that down too, but none of them match the initials for CA."

"That's not a convincing piece of evidence," Rouge stated sadly, "We need Red to help us. But where…" Just as Rouge was about to ask a question, the door to the suite burst open, and three men clad in black ninja suits flew into the walls. Blue and Rouge both jumped, scared to death.

"Take that, you vile fiends!" came a deep voice, and then Alkaiser appeared, his golden cape billowing in the unseen wind, "How dare you commit such acts of injustice aboard this ship! I shall right your indecent wrong!" With that, Alkaiser threw another punch, sending the ninjas through the window and into the abyss outside. Then he gave a mighty laugh. Rouge and Blue continued to stare like a deer in the headlights.

"What the hell was that!?" Rouge braved, arching an eyebrow. When Alkaiser finally noticed them, he smiled heroically.

"Hello, fellow do-gooding comrades! How fares the battle against evil?" Alkaiser asked. Rouge couldn't control himself. He had to laugh, unable to believe that such a literate doofus could possibly be Red. Blue snickered, but managed to keep more control than Rouge could.

"We're progressing well, Red," Blue said calmly, "We found something very interesting, and I think you should take a look at it too." Alkaiser nodded, and reverted back to Red's human form. Curious, he took the paper Blue handed him, and looked at it. By the look on his face, Red obviously understood what Rouge had found. In a minute of complete outrage, Red nearly shredded the paper to bits until Rouge quickly took it away.

"Red!! That's evidence!" Rouge cried, putting the paper into his pocket. Red, however, didn't calm down as he stormed around the room.

"I can't believe it! This ship is smuggling goods!" Red ranted, "All along, we've been committing a huge crime! And for what!? A few hundred dollars!?"

"Red, just try and calm down. We don't know the entire story yet," Blue said, helping Red to a chair. Red sat down meekly and buried his hands in his face, unable to believe what he'd read. Blue sat in the chair next to him, and Rouge sat on the floor. Finally, after letting the shock of what happened sink in, Red found the calm he needed.

"What else did you manage to find?" he asked quietly. Blue looked at Rouge, and Rouge nodded.

"We're pretty sure we found the initials to the company that's bribing you guys," Rouge answered, "But we can't figure out which company it is. The initials are CA. Do you know anything about it?" Red looked perplexed for a moment, and then slowly nodded. His frown deepened.

"That's the initials for the company that runs the CIC building in Manhattan. I think its true name is Campbell Association," Red said darkly, "They specialize in technical equipment specifically for medical research." Rouge looked sharply at Blue.

"So that's why those morons brought up the name Campbell," Rouge concluded.

"But why would they want a metal that's going to be used to make a super weapon?" Blue asked, "If they're centered on medical equipment, what use is your cargo?" Red shrugged. He didn't understand it either. But he knew one thing, they couldn't sit idly by.

"I think we'd better go into the CIC building and check this out for ourselves," Red said, standing up. Rouge agreed, but Blue had a problem with that idea as he stood up as well and stopped Red from opening the door.

"Wait, isn't that risky?" Blue asked, "How are we going to get in? They'll know we're cops." Red sighed, trying to think of a way to get into the building. They could go through the sewers, but even he hated that idea. A back door wasn't a sound idea, either, as it'd probably be even more fortified with security than the front. But one idea finally did appeal to him.

"We could disguise ourselves as workers and slip in," Red suggested evilly. Blue reluctantly gave up his nagging and let Red explain his plan. The way it worked was that they'd head to Manhattan and go into JC Dobby's, where the CIC received their uniforms. After being outfitted, they'd head to the CIC building directly, and after going through clearance, they'd stealthily investigate the case from the inside. When Blue asked how they'd escape clearance, Red held up an ID card.

"Fuse helped me make this card the first time we went into CIC," Red explained, handing it to Rouge to look at, "I'm a renowned scientist there. If I say you're both my apprentices, they'll let you in easily. Just don't do anything to blow our cover." Rouge looked at Blue with a mocking look in his eye, but Blue ignored him, as he still had more questions to ask.

"Are we taking this ship to Manhattan then?" Blue asked. Red nodded, grabbing a map off the desk.

"It'll be less conspicuous if we fill in for my boss and land the ship outside the city," Red replied, "And in case you're wondering, we don't need to worry about the passengers. They all arrived in Bacarat. That's where the escape pods are linked to." Blue found this to be pretty convenient, but didn't say anything that'd bring the plan to a halt. Instead, he walked out of the room.

"Are we all ready to head to Manhattan?" he asked, and when the other two nodded with determination, Blue led the way to the control room.

"Whoever it is we're after, let's hope they don't run."

-----------------------------(End chapter)

Well, looks like our favorite pair of twins are even closer to solving their second case! And with Red and Alkaiser on their side, how can they possibly fail? But even with the superhuman on their side, this mission won't be an easy one by any means. After all, they're dealing with possibly an entire enterprising force! Will they need backup, or can they be quiet enough to find everything they need before they're discovered? Will Red's plan even work? And will Fuse somehow waltz right into the scene? Find out the answers to these questions in the next chapter, so click that Review button!


	10. Deadly mist, and a deadly light

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier or Final Fantasy. Squaresoft does, and we all love them for it, too.

The Cygnus sailed swiftly through the sky, looping and swerving oddly as Red was elected to steer it first. Rouge kept a lookout in case they reached the Manhattan border, and Blue was busy supplying the furnace with enough coal to pull them through. He barely had time to look over his shoulder and see out the window as he shoveled coal in before he had to heave the shovel into the pile and repeat the process again. He was glad he had taken Lion's training courses, as it strengthened his muscles enough to throw hundreds of pounds of coal. Finally, when it came time for Rouge to steer, Blue managed to snag a break.

"So, how long do we have until we get there?" Blue asked, wiping sweat and ash off of his forehead with an oily handkerchief. Red handed Rouge the map, and sat on the windowsill, looking out attentively. Rouge launched the plane again, and they whirled past a field of Devon's Lillies.

"We should be there in about two hours," Red stated, passing Blue a soda, "We just passed Devon about ten minutes ago, and we're headed into Shrike." Blue felt this was well and good for now, because it'd give them some time to plan ahead.

"How much coal do we need to use?" Blue asked, shoveling another scoop in. Red craned his head around to take a look, and nodded.

"That's more than enough," he replied, and Blue threw the shovel down and joined him, "So, what's up?" Blue took the facemask he had to wear off, and whistled.

"Well, I'm just wondering what we have to do once we actually get inside the building," Blue said, undoing his ponytail and letting his hair fall free, "Who exactly are we aiming to take down?" Red tilted his head and stroked his chin, which Blue took to mean that he didn't know. But when Red snapped his fingers, Blue became hopeful.

"Her name is Anita Campbell," Red explained, smirking, "I've only seen her once, but she's the one who owns the company. She also manages all of the activity of cargo she receives. If anyone knows what's going on, she would." Blue was about to speak, but Rouge beat him to it. He'd been listening while steering, which he was quite proud of, from the tone in his voice.

"So we're skipping from the little minnows right to the big fish! Awesome!" Rouge exclaimed, turning the wheel, "So how should we kill her? Fire?" Both Blue and Red gave Rouge looks that stated they felt he was being a moron, which he promptly ignored. Red decided that explaining their protest was better.

"Rouge, it's not that simple. She's the _boss_. She's going to have bodyguards," Red tried to explain, "She might even know we're coming. We were supposed to be in Manhattan nearly an hour ago. I'm sure she's wondering why we're so late." Blue looked out the window as Red and Rouge continued to talk about possible ways to stop Anita. Something about heading to Manhattan discomforted him more and more, and the closer they were getting, the worse this feeling became. For a while, he kept silent, staring intently on the sky, watching as the blue sky turned to slight pink, and then gave way to a dark, almost inky navy blue. He knew Manhattan was ahead.

"Blue, are you okay?" he heard Rouge ask, but his voice seemed so far away as Blue kept his focus, "Blue, you missed your shift. Blue? Blue!" Blue blinked, and realized that Rouge really was asking him something. He also noticed he'd felt weak and lightheaded.

"Huh? Did you just ask me something, Rouge?" Blue asked innocently. Rouge perked a concerned eyebrow, and nodded slowly, indicating his worry.

"Yeah, I asked if you were okay," Rouge replied quietly, "You missed your shift."

"What's outside that's gotten your attention?" Red added, holding the wheel steady. Rouge walked over to the window, and Blue pressed something so Red would be able to see through as well. Gasps filled the room as the two looked onward at the ominous sky that seemed to reign only on the city of Manhattan. Red couldn't tear his eyes away, but Rouge was able to keep himself under control. But what scared Rouge wasn't the sky; it was the magical pull he felt from it. He turned to Blue.

"This doesn't feel normal," Rouge stated grimly, frowning deeply, "Think it's a spell?"

"It's a very powerful magic, but it has to be more than a spell," Blue replied, just as worried, "But look. See how it's covering the entire city? Whoever's doing this can't possibly be a human." Red, who'd been lulled into a trance from it, snapped away and clapped his fists together.

"I bet it has something to do with CIC, though. I just have this bad feeling," Red added, a look of determined anger setting onto his face, "Should I morph into Alkaiser and take a look around?" Blue shook his head, and gestured for Red to start landing as they spoke.

"No. We can't risk you being spotted," Blue answered quickly, "Here, take this. The air's becoming really thick with magic." Blue reached into his pocket, and took out a small blue collar with a bell on it. The bell was made of some type of crystal, and shone with many different colors. Red looked at it as Blue placed the collar in his hands. Red picked it up by one end and arched a confused eyebrow.

"What is it?" he asked, poking the small bell. It made a tiny chime.

"It's a Nullifier," Rouge explained, though he seemed very taken aback by seeing the bell, "It protects someone from harmful effects of magical energies and traces that are in the air. Usually you only need to wear them in the Magic Kingdom, that's why they're so rare. Blue, where did you get it?" Blue gave a half smile as Red fastened the collar on, and rung the little bell a few times like a little kitten would.

"The masters of the kingdom gave it to me," Blue replied shyly, "For when I would go into the Mystic realms. Usually, those are the only other places where you'd need the bell, and no one except Mystics are allowed there anyway." Rouge blinked as another thought came to him. What if whoever was causing this weird air was a Mystic? He was about to ask, except Red beat him to it. But Blue shook his head.

"No, it's not a Mystic," Blue said, almost bitterly, "I wish it were, but it's something much different. Very deadly, but I can't put my finger on it."

"It doesn't matter. We'll probably end up running into it at some point in there," Red concluded, as the plane made a soft landing just outside the city, "Let's just see if it's affecting anyone in town. We need to stop Anita first, or at least interrogate her. Then we'll deal with the hocus pocus later." Neither Blue nor Rouge liked that, but they both nodded anyway. As the plane came to a full stop, all three men ran up to the entrance level. The door opened slowly, but was pushed the rest of the way as they rushed to jump out. When Blue landed, he nearly choked. The air was very heavy, and very stale. And, from what he remembered of being here on his last mission, it wasn't like that at all.

"Rouge… something's… definitely here," Blue coughed out, gasping for breath. Rouge nodded, but conserved his strength. Red clenched his fists. Even with the bell, it was hard for him to breathe. None of them could imagine how anyone was faring inside the city, or who could possibly have such a power. But they shoved those thoughts into the corners of their minds as they plowed through the tampered air, their current worry on breathing, and if their breath could last in such a heavy state. But somehow, they managed as they crossed through the city limits. Inside the city, however, they soon got their answers to their previous thoughts as people slugged about, trying to go on with their normal lives. Everyone looked pale, and they seemed to be very sick. No one spoke, except for one old man who coughed continuously. Rouge edged away with uncertainty.

"Blue, this is insane! Everyone's sick!" Rouge whispered, as they continued down the street, keeping away from anyone who was hacking, "What kind of magic is this? It can't be anything WE'VE learned, can it?" Blue looked away, not wanting to tell Rouge he had no idea. That'd only scare his twin, which would make their job even harder. Instead, he provided an observation.

"It's nothing I've seen, that's all I can confirm," Blue replied, as they turned a corner just before the steps to a Trinity parking lot, "There are rumors of other types of magic, but no one's been able to recall what their properties were. But this seems like an epidemic rather than an actual spell. I've never heard of a spell that creates this effect at such a magnitude." Rouge didn't seem relieved at Blue's insight, but Blue was expecting that. Rouge kept silent, having nothing more to say, but Red spoke up, his brows furrowed in concentration. Obviously, something formed in his mind.

"An epidemic? You mean, like something being spread out from a hospital, like Sars?" Red asked, "But how can that happen? Doctors here are pretty strict, the only way something this bad could happen is with a failure in their… equipment…" Blue raised a steady brow as a series of curses erupted from Red's mouth, causing the few pedestrians that weren't busy getting sick to stare at them. Rouge looked around frantically at the crowd, and then snapped right back to Red.

"What is it? What did I miss here?" he asked, exasperated. Blue nodded towards Red, who practically screamed out his answer in fury.

"CIC is behind this little crapfest, too!" Red shouted angrily, as the pedestrians decided it best to just ignore his outbursts, "They make all of the medical equipment for the hospitals, so they're the reason that everyone's coughing so much, at least." Blue sniffed the air for a minute, and shook his head in contradiction.

"That doesn't explain the air, though," Blue stated, but Red was prepared for a defense.

"Doesn't matter. Either way, we're taking down CIC right now," Red replied quickly, "CIC is the biggest building here. We'll have a great vantage point from the rooftop, so even if they aren't responsible, we can still see the entire town from there. You and Rouge know how to sniff out magic, right?" Blue and Rouge both glanced at each other, then nodded nervously.

"You're thinking we should try and pinpoint our little wizard from that high up?" Rouge asked, and then looked back at Blue, "Will that work?"

"It's a long shot, but you should be able to, Rouge," Blue replied confidently, "My senses were dulled when I fought the Time Lord, but yours are still pretty sharp. Are you up to it?" Rouge nodded vigorously.

"I'm up for anything that requires my special expertise!" Rouge exclaimed confidently, "Onto CIC!" Red arched an eyebrow at Blue as Rouge marched proudly toward the building that seemed to be miles away, but Blue just laughed, shook his head, and urged Red to follow him. They both knew that once Rouge got himself worked up, stopping him was nearly impossible.

Before Rouge even knew what he was actually doing, he found himself running towards the CIC building, his heart racing. What he thought was excitement was actually fear and confusion, but he knew that plowing the streets at what seemed like 95 miles per hour wouldn't help. Closing his eyes, Rouge forced himself to slow, and then eventually he stopped running altogether. Which was a good thing, too. Blue and Red were nothing more than dots as Rouge turned around to see if they were following him. That gave him some time to stop and think about what he was actually afraid of. It wasn't the building, and he was pretty sure it wasn't Anita, either.

"It's this air," Rouge whispered, as he looked around, "It's giving off this really weird vibration… aside from sickness." Rouge saw that the closer he became to the building, the darker it had gotten, and proved it when he ran back a few feet and the darkness lessened considerably. Now he was convinced that whatever was going on had everything to do with CIC. Hopefully, Blue would feel the same. Deciding it best not to advance until he had help, Rouge simply waited and caught what little breath he could in the stagnate air. Blue caught up only a few minutes later, joined by a very tired-out Red.

"You were waiting for us?" Blue asked with mild interest, "You were so worked up, I'd have thought you'd be flushing the guards out by now." Rouge's expression turned grim, and he shook his head.

"I'm trying not to be that reckless," Rouge replied darkly, "I think this air might jam our magic, bro. The closer we get, the harder it is to track that trace of magic we felt out there. That only means one thing. Once we're in CIC, we can kiss our magic goodbye." Blue's brows furrowed and he snapped his fingers sharply. Obviously, he didn't like not having magic. Rouge didn't blame him, since it was always like a security blanket for them. Any time they had problems, they resorted to magic.

"I don't like this," Blue said ominously, "Our chances are being cut in half at every turn." Rouge sympathetically patted Blue on the back, but Red laughed. Blue shot him an icy glare, and Rouge's look implied an inquire. Red stopped laughing and pointed to a small button on his shoulder.

"Guys, don't worry about the fighting. I have it all taken care of," Red stated confidently, but when neither Blue nor Rouge got it, he added, "I can transform into Alkaiser. He can take care of whatever crap gets in our way, whether it's a guard or an army of zombies." Blue seemed pretty reluctant to accept that as valuable help, since technically Alkaiser was still Red, but Rouge's frown turned into a smile that became three miles wide. He gave Red a high five, and the two started to jump around frantically.

"All right! We're going to totally kick ass now!" Rouge exclaimed, and together, he and Red did a victory pose, "I feel just like Auron after he won the Golden Sword award. FIVE TIMES!" Blue watched hopelessly as his two comrades shouted ridiculous phrases and named far gone heroes from back in the 90's. Then something flying off of Red's shoulder caught his eye. It was the button to summon Alkaiser, and it landed softly on the ground. Blue's eyes widened and he immediately did the best thing he could.

"Red, stop! The button!" Blue cried, but Red and Rouge continued to dance around.

"What, Blue? You have to speak up!" Rouge called, "We can't hear you!" Blue slapped his forehead and sighed.

"_THE BUTTON!_" Blue screamed at the top of his lungs, "It's…" But Blue was too late. Just as he was about to say "under your foot," Rouge stomped on it and crushed it to tiny pieces. Thankfully, the crunch finally caught their attention. Red pushed Rouge aside and picked up what was left of his prized button.

"My button!" he cried, and started to sob, "My precious super-hero button! It's RUINED!" Rouge looked at it and his eyes watered up too.

"Rest in peace, Alkaiser. I didn't get to meet you, but you're still awesome," Rouge said, and then glared at Blue, "Why didn't you tell us we were about to step on it!?" Blue blinked and stared at his brother in disbelief.

"What!? Yes I did! I screamed at you both!" Blue yelled back, throwing his hands up, "It's not MY fault you two are louder than a train wreck on Friday night!" Rouge sniffed a bit, and helped Red up, who proceeded to collect the tiny plastic fragments.

"Now, now, bro. Let's not go pointing fingers," Rouge scolded, "Red lost someone very important because you didn't yell loud enough. Now, show some respect and help us find the rest of the button." Blue's eye twitched angrily, and for a minute he was sure he'd lose his temper. But Red wiped his nosed and smiled proudly.

"Nah, it's cool, Rouge," Red said, looking up at the sky, eyes watering proudly, "Alkaiser would want to go out honorably! He wouldn't hold this against Blue!" Rouge smiled, but Blue continued to stare in disbelief.

"Uh, Red? I hate to break it to you, but smashing your hero button isn't exactly honorable," Blue stated, arching an eyebrow, "And neither is blaming me, because it's not my fault. Alkaiser knows this, so I guess it doesn't matter whether you do or not." The other two watched as Blue continued to walk towards the CIC building, flicking his hair back majestically. Then Rouge turned to Red and snuffed.

"How can he know what Alkaiser knows?" Rouge asked sarcastically. Red looked up at the sky again, and for a split second, the sun shone through perfectly before slipping through the thick fog only a second later.

"Somehow, he can sense Alkaiser's very thoughts and intentions," Red said absentmindedly, and Rouge took that as a cue to get the hell out of the fog as he then grabbed Red and dragged him off to follow Blue as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Blue wasn't too far ahead. He had stopped at the gates into the CIC building and was listening intently to something Rouge couldn't see. Rouge walked over and set Red down.

"Blue, what's going on? Why aren't we going in?" Rouge asked in a harsh whisper, as he poked his head over the gate. Two guards stood there, but they were unarmed. Blue turned to Rouge and handed him a nametag.

"We need to get some fake IDs," Blue whispered back, "That's Red's. But we don't have any. Plus, we might be recognized if we're unlucky, so we might want a disguise. But the problem is that all the stores are closed. How can we get anything we need?" Rouge looked down, trying to think of a solution. He looked at Red, who seemed to finally realize just what happened and was very upset about his button. Red wasn't going to help much right now. Rouge then looked at the guards, and saw that they weren't exactly unarmed. Like Fuse, they had blasters on them. Blue had every right to be worried.

"Should we try to take them on?" Rouge asked, raising an innocent eyebrow. Blue's face dropped in dismay, and he shook his head.

"No. They're armed and we're lucky if our guns work in this mist," Blue answered grimly, "We could try to break through with a car, but that'd be worse in the long run. And the sewers aren't even an option. They're probably choking with this… disease of a mist." Rouge nodded in silent agreement. They were definitely running out of options, and not even Fuse was around to help them. But then another thought occurred to him.

"What if we summon Orlouge? He said he would help us," Rouge suggested. At first, Blue seemed to like that idea, but obviously something came that changed his mind, because he also shook his head at that one.

"The fog jams up magic, and magic is basically the Mystics' life force. Any of them would die in here," Blue replied, and grunted, "I think Anita knew we'd be coming. Why can't this ever be easy?" Just as Blue slammed his fists onto the gates, the entrance door opened, and a janitor walked out with a doctor. Both of them had name tags and uniforms, and both of them were too absorbed in the use of chemicals as they walked right past the guards. Rouge grinned, and nudged Blue.

"I think this just got a little easier," he said mischievously, and stalked closer to the gate. Blue blinked, and then turned away, thinking it best not to know exactly what Rouge just meant. He had his answer as soon as he heard cries of "Oh god, why!?" and "My spleen! My spleen!!!" followed by a swear and two thuds. Blue rushed over and saw the doctor and janitor on the ground, in their underwear, with Rouge holding their uniforms in his hand. Blue's mouth dropped open, unable to figure out which sight shocked him more. Finally, he found one question his mouth could form.

"What the hell did you do!?" he asked, or rather, screamed. Rouge smiled and held the uniforms up a little higher.

"I got us our IDs," he said brightly, and threw Blue the janitor uniform, "Now put this on, we have a date with Anita." Blue sighed as Rouge slipped on the lab coat, but he knew they had to keep moving. He put on the uniform over his own police outfit, and together they walked towards the entrance.

"What about Red?" Blue whispered, looking over his shoulder. Red was still sitting, trying to repair his button. Rouge shrugged.

"He'll meet us when he fixes Alkaiser," Rouge replied, "Anyway, the guards are looking right at us. I think they're suspicious." Blue turned, and saw Rouge was right. One guard stopped them abruptly and took out a scanner.

"Halt," he said, "State your name." Blue looked at his name tag and aimed to answer before Rouge could make it worse.

"Dr. Nusakan," Blue repeated, "I'm here about the injection of rune powder."

"I'm his assistant! Er… Bob. Bob Robertson," Rouge lied, mainly because he couldn't read his tag upside down. The other guard lifted his visor and arched a perplexed eyebrow.

"It says your name is Elmo," the guard stated blandly. Rouge blinked as Blue nudged him, and then chuckled.

"No, I'm Bob. I'm just borrowing this until my uniform comes back from the cleaners," Rouge lied. Blue shut his eyes, praying the guards believed them. The guards glanced at one another, then whispered something. Finally, they stepped aside.

"All right, you can go through," one guard said sternly, "Just be careful. Remember, there's radioactive metal all over." Blue nodded quickly and dragged Rouge inside. If anything, the guard just gave them a vital clue. But before Blue could relay it, the sheer brilliance of the radiating lights caught his attention, as did Rouge's.

"It's pretty," was all Rouge could say to describe the color. Blue blinked, but couldn't tear his eyes away.

"This looks pretty dangerous," Blue whispered, "It must be all over the building…" But even knowing the dangers, Blue couldn't move. It was as though the radiation was locking him in place, dazzling him with the soft, green light. For now, all they could do was stare into the amazing light.

-----------------------------(End chapter)

Uh oh, this doesn't look good. Blue and Rouge may have half-solved the mystery, but now they're trapped in the CIC building, with guards and dangerous chemicals swarming all over. Can they manage to break through the hypnotic effects of the light before Anita arrives, or are they sitting ducks? And will Red fix his button before that happens? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	11. Security Breach: Alkaiser appears!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

Minutes passed as Blue and Rouge stood in the lobby of the CIC building, staring almost hypnotically into the light emitted from the large crystals protruding out of the walls. Instantly, Blue could smell the dangerous magic that he felt near the city, and it threatened to choke him. He forced his leg to step forward, though it was a struggle. The magic in the building was so thick that it was holding him in place, but he managed to break free of it in a minute. Rouge, on the other hand, wasn't having any luck. After stretching out, Blue walked over to see what he could do.

"Rouge, can you move anything?" Blue asked, trying to move Rouge's right arm, "Try to fight the magic coming off of the crystals! That's what's holding you down." But no matter how much strength he applied, Rouge's arm refused to budge. Blue cursed and struck one of the crystals, as Rouge yelped and fell down. Blue blinked, and turned around to see a very grumpy Rouge lying on the floor.

"Did you HAVE to hit that particular crystal!?" Rouge asked, rubbing his back, "That hurt!" Blue smiled nervously, as he knew he freed his twin with sheer luck. He gave a soft chuckle and patted the crystal.

"Sorry, Rouge. I didn't know that was the one holding you in place," Blue stated, walking back to help Rouge up, "But the magic's unusually strong here. No doubt, we're on the right track. Chances are we stumbled into more than just a simple theft, too." Rouge nodded slowly, staggering a bit as his legs had fallen asleep. Blue led him to a chair near a desk and let him sit down. Then Blue went around the desk and turned on the security system. He switched one of the cameras to show the front gates. Red was still sitting there, but the button was almost fixed.

"Looks like we'll get some backup soon, eh?" Rouge replied, massaging his leg, "Too bad there's no one else we can call. So, what do we do? Should we wait here or head on up?" As Blue clicked the system off, he thought about their next move. Whatever he chose next was critical and would decide if they were successful. Rouge needed to rest, and he wasn't doing so well himself, but if they waited, Anita might get away. But with just the two of them, going up was dangerous. And without their magic, they'd be trapped. Blue knew that the force he felt would bar his magic. Despite that, part of him wanted to go ahead.

"I don't know..." Blue said, defeated, "There's too many risks on both sides of this decision, and I don't know which one has worse consequences. Rouge, what would you choose?" Rouge stopped rubbing his sleepy leg and stroked his chin. At least he seemed to come to a decision easily enough as he snapped his fingers.

"I think we need to head up," Rouge stated, standing up, "Even if the consequences are bad, we did take an oath to stop evil. And this is evil, through and through. Red looks like he's nearly done, he should be up soon enough. We should try to clear a path so he can reach us faster." Rouge stumbled a bit on his first step, but maintained his balance after that. Blue was proud of Rouge's decision, but he also wanted to remind Rouge of their situation with weapons.

"We still don't have magic on our side, though. What can we use in its place?" Blue asked, "Our blasters only have limited ammo, so we need a backup weapon." Rouge nodded, as he already figured that problem into the plan. He told Blue to stay put as he rummaged through another desk for something Blue couldn't yet see. As soon as Rouge stopped, he pulled out a large pole. It was cast iron, with a blunt shaft on either side. Granted, it was meant to hold curtains in place, but it looked reliable enough. Rouge twirled it like a baton and strapped it across his back.

"There's stuff all over we can use. Here, take this for instance," Rouge said, tossing an old clock-tuning chain to Blue, "That could make a suitable nunchuck if you wield it right." Blue laughed as he caught the heavy chain in his hands. There were two large, oval-shaped orbs on the ends of the chain, one each, and as Blue tested it out, he accidentally smashed a chair to pieces. It would definitely be useful. He strapped it to his belt, and laughed again.

"I'm impressed, Rouge. You certainly find a use for everything," Blue commented proudly, "I think that'll be what saves us again." Brotherly, he ruffled Rouge's hair. Rouge laughed and ran up the large staircase toward the elevators.

"Lucky for you, I'm resourceful!" Rouge shouted, pressing a button, "Last one inside pays for our next coffee break!" Blue narrowed his eyes and dashed up the staircase towards Rouge as the elevator door opened. The two rushed inside, and both made it in at the same time. As the door closed, both agreed to pay for their own coffee, and nothing more was said as they rode up to the 13th floor. But as they reached the 10th floor, something crashed up above, and the elevator suddenly stopped. The lights shut off, and the buzzing of the elevator ceased. Blue grabbed his flashlight out of his belt and turned it on, looking around. The LED that displayed the floor they were on was shut off, and none of the buttons Rouge was pressing worked. Rouge looked at Blue with worry.

"Nothing's working! Is the elevator busted for good?" Rouge asked. Blue furrowed his brows in concentration, as he walked over to the fuse box under the buttons.

"I might be able to get it running again. Hold on," Blue replied, opening the box. But as he looked, nothing indicated that the elevator was stopped. All of the switches were on, and everything stated that the elevator was working properly. And yet, nothing was happening, even when Blue flipped them off, and then back on. He checked the wires, but they were all connected, and none were cracked or leaking sparks. So then what was causing the elevator to stop?

"Anything?" Rouge asked, as Blue shut the fuse box and wiped his forehead.

"No. Everything's connected and switched on. By all scientific and technologic standards, we should be moving right now," Blue stated, deep in thought, "So what's shutting the power down?" Rouge sat on the floor and unstrapped his pole.

"Could it be the radiation from the crystals?" Rouge suggested, "Or the magic? It IS jamming up our power, so why should it stop with electricity?" Blue turned the flashlight off and sat next to Rouge, as he tried to string what he knew into an answer.

"Strong magical streaks throughout history have been known to short-circuit mechanical appliances or anything relating to technology," Blue started, tying his hair back up into a ponytail, "And magic was based on an electrical discharge concocted by the first wizards, so it _is_ possible... But we still don't know how whoever is behind this managed to tap into so much power." Rouge nodded, and stood up. Blue watched in pure confusion as Rouge took his pole and shoved it toward the ceiling until he successfully broke the elevator's roof escape hatch off its hinges. Then he took hold of a small ladder on the side, that Blue finally realized was for emergencies.

"And we won't know if we stick around here," Rouge said, climbing up and crawling through the hatch, "If we can't get this thing moving, we should climb up ourselves." Blue nodded, and proceeded to follow Rouge. On the roof, the air was lighter, but it smelled of grease. Light came through shafts built into the walls, so at least the two could see the ropes holding the elevator in place. Rouge grabbed one and tried to climb up, only to slide right back down. He let go, and wiped his hands on his pants.

"Ew! This is disgusting!" Rouge cried, as Blue raised an eyebrow, "The ropes are covered in slime!" Blue didn't seem overly surprised to hear that. They were in an elevator shaft, after all. They'd be lucky if they weren't already stepping in some form of slime.

"Everything's probably covered in slime," Blue stated simply, grabbing the rope and flinching at the texture of it, "But get over it and pull yourself up. We have work to do." Rouge watched in speechless annoyance as Blue pulled himself up the rope, climbing at a steady pace. Then Rouge himself took another swing at the rope and heaved himself up, keeping a safe distance from Blue in case he fell. The going was rough, as it was difficult to keep a grip on the slippery rope, but somehow the two managed.

"I suppose this is the fun of being a cop," Rouge commented, as they passed a shaft of light, "Can you imagine Fuse climbing through this? Or even our own boss?" Blue snickered as the thought of Fuse sliding down the rope and swearing profusely reached him. It wouldn't be surprising if that was truly Fuse's reaction.

"I could imagine it," Blue replied, chuckling, "I just wouldn't want to be near him if it does happen." Rouge nodded in agreement, before remembering Blue couldn't see him. But he ignored that part, as they focused again on climbing up the shaft. He noticed that the higher they climbed, the less grease appeared to be on the rope, which made it increasingly easier to get up. Soon they passed what they hoped was the 11th floor, then the 12th, and when they didn't stop at the 13th floor, Rouge once again demanded an inquire.

"Blue, what floor are we going to?" Rouge asked, perking an amused, yet perplexed brow as he pulled himself up another foot or so. He could hear Blue panting a bit above him, as though he were having some trouble moving. He must've been getting tired.

"We'll go as high as this shaft takes us," Blue replied, though his voice sounded strained and he did sound tired, "The longer we stay in here, despite the disgust, the better off we are. No one can see us, though my arms are getting incredibly tired." Forcing himself to keep moving, Blue pulled himself up another couple of feet. He took a small glance down, and guessed that they must've climbed at least 50 feet. But who knew how much more they'd have to go?

"Maybe we should stop on the next floor," Rouge's voice came from below Blue, "You're not sounding good, and we shouldn't kill ourselves over this." Blue knew Rouge had a point, but he still couldn't think of slowing down while everyone else outside suffered. But Rouge still had a point. Besides, he knew they could climb the shaft later if the building proved too heavily guarded.

"All right, we'll stop here," Blue called down as he reached the 14th floor platform. He kept one hand tightly gripped on the rope as he felt for the edge of the platform with his free hand. When he felt the cold metal, he pulled himself up and sat on the narrow platform, if it could now be called that. He made sure to give Rouge enough space to climb, who came up only a few minutes later. Like Blue, he also pulled himself up and sat down. The two sat in silence for a moment, recovering the energy they spent traversing the shaft. Then Rouge looked at his brother.

"You feeling rested?" he asked, panting a bit. Blue laughed genuinely, but nodded. He took out his blaster and turned to the tightly shut elevator door behind them and turned his blaster on, emitting a purple glow. Rouge watched in mild interest as Blue began to melt a decent-sized hole through the metal doors, then stick his hand through and slam a button. A small bell chimed and Blue took his hand out just before the elevator doors swung open. Instantly fresh… or as fresh as it could be… air flowed through and greeted the twins as they rushed out of the shaft and into the building. But whatever breath they recovered was instantly taken away from the sight of the 14th floor. If the radiation and lighting was amazing down below, this seemed almost mythical. Not only did pure white light flow out of the green crystals, but particles of radiation drifted through the air like moon glow, and resembled snowflakes. Though they knew it was a dangerous sight, it was tranquil as well.

"Keep your guard up, Rouge," Blue whispered sternly, readying his blaster again, "Don't let the light draw you in." Rouge nodded and saw Blue stalk down the long hallway, so he took out his own blaster and followed close behind. He didn't want to lose Blue in this place. Blue suddenly stopped and pulled Rouge close to the wall, and both saw why. Something came out into the hall, looking like a cross between a large dog and a huge machine. Liquid oozed from its mouth.

"What the hell is that thing?" Rouge whispered, eyes wide with wonder, "Should we shoot it?" Blue looked at him with narrowed eyes and gently smacked his head.

"No!" Blue hissed as quietly as he could, "Let's avoid as much battle as possible. For all we know, that may just be a security dog." So, as per Blue's instruction, they waited. The doglike creature sniffed around as steam issued from its nostrils, but then it seemed to have found whatever it was looking for, and went back to the room it was in. As soon as the door behind it closed, Blue dragged Rouge across the hall as fast and silently as they could go. Nothing stopped them as they rounded a corner, except for an intersection. Blue finally realized something about this floor, and he didn't seem happy to have stopped now.

"Rouge, this is a maze!" Blue cried, letting go of his brother's hand, "I bet it's like this on the next floor, too. With even more guards lurking around." Rouge snapped his fingers and cursed.

"Of course. Why can't it ever be easy?" Rouge asked, "Why couldn't Anita keep her office on the first floor? The top view is so overrated, anyway!"

"Should we try the elevator shaft again?" Blue asked, genuinely thinking that might be a better answer. But Rouge quickly shook his head, and Blue dropped the thought.

"No. It was hard enough climbing four floors. Imagine having to climb another forty," Rouge said, and when Blue gave him a skeptical look, he added, "Okay, forty might be over-exaggerating, but we both know it'll be at least another six floors." Blue nodded and his expression softened, obviously he agreed with Rouge. He looked around each corner, but judging by the fact that no route showed more than five feet ahead, they were in the middle of the current floor. Closing his eyes, Blue focused on the source of magic they felt down below. It was dulled up here, but still visible to his mind's eye. And it was coming from the left path.

"Come on. The elevator or stairwell must be this way," Blue said, heading left. Rouge looked like he had no idea how Blue could know this, but shrugged and followed Blue anyway, knowing best not to just argue. After all, Blue was right about directions over ninety percent of the time. The path Blue took was curvy and twisting, but it ended up being the right one. At the end, or entrance depending on how you entered, was the stairwell. It led both up and down, but Blue ran up the stairs, Rouge by his side. They stopped on the landing, and Blue sniffed the air again. Something bothered him, as he turned to Rouge.

"Can you smell the magic in the air?" Blue asked, and Rouge closed his eyes and sniffed around. He opened them and shook his head.

"Just barely," he replied grimly, "Is something masking it?"

"Either that or it's naturally dissipating from the air flow up here," Blue stated, "The higher we go, the more noticeable the change is. It'll be harder to find the exit here."

"Should we risk using our magic then?" Rouge asked, turning down his blaster, "After all, if the veil is thinning, we should be able to pull of an Energy Chain." Blue thought about it, and nodded slowly.

"We'll use it if we have to," Blue finally said, "But let's stick to our blasters until then." Rouge agreed, and Blue opened the door to the next floor. Like the last, it was also a maze, or it appeared to be as it opened to a long hallway dotted with intersections here and there. And it was suspiciously quiet again. Blue kept his blaster at the ready, and crept along as silently as he could with Rouge doing the same. When they came to the first intersection, Blue signaled for Rouge to wait, and snuck along to look over each corner.

"Which way do we go?" Rouge whispered, as Blue came back.

"Straight. The sides lead to large rooms," Blue replied, and with a wave, they crept down the hall again. The next intersection was the same, with them having to keep going straight. Rouge was getting restless by this point.

"Blue, tell me you know this is suspicious," he said, not even trying to be quiet any longer, "This is a little too easy. Why haven't we run into any guards or security bots?" Blue snickered, and although he wasn't facing Rouge, he raised an amused brow.

"Did you _want_ security to snag us?" Blue asked sarcastically, "I'm sure if we yell louder, that'll alert someone somewhere and they might send a handful of goons up to at least investigate." Rouge tightened his grip on his blaster, annoyed with Blue's lack of taking him seriously.

"I'm serious here!" Rouge cried, which made Blue stop and turn around, crossing his arms… crossly as his brother continued, "This isn't a good thing if we haven't hit a security breach yet! Aren't you even worried!?" Blue sighed, and shook his head, though it was more in frustration than in an actual answer.

"Of course I am. But I'm also counting our blessings, because it's making our job a hell of a lot easier for right now," Blue pointed out, "Right now, we need to focus on climbing up the floors. We'll worry about the guards when we see them." Blue turned around again and continued to walk down the hallway. Rouge followed reluctantly, and within just a minute, they were standing at the elevator. Blue pressed a button, but all that happened was the display screen on the LCD turning blue.

"It's locked," Blue said distastefully, "I shouldn't be too surprised, yet I am."

"Looks like we'll need a keycard to get it to work," Rouge observed, and punched his fists together, "It could be in any of these rooms! It might even be on a different floor altogether!" Blue gave him a side glance, and turned on his blaster to a higher setting.

"Relax. I'm going to try and hack the lock. If I can't hack it, or melt it, then we'll look for the key," Blue assured, and pointed the blaster directly at the lock. Rouge watched in mild interest as Blue fiddled around with the buttons, while simultaneously tinkering with the blaster.

"Where'd you learn to do this?" Rouge asked, thinking it highly impossible for Blue to have learned during their short time at IRPO. Blue gave an odd, confident smirk.

"Emelia taught me a while ago when I was chasing down the Gold card in Baccarat," Blue replied shyly, "It came in handy quite a few… DAMNIT!" Rouge jumped at Blue's sudden outburst as Blue withdrew his hand and blew on it, dropping his blaster. Rouge immediately conjured a Starlight Heal and used it on the large burn on Blue's hand.

"What happened!?" Rouge asked urgently, eyeing the burn with worry.

"That lock has a nasty firewall on it," Blue grumbled, rubbing his hand, "If we try and hack it, it'll zap us. We need that keycard. Another shock like that, and I might not survive this mission the same way I came in." Rouge's expression deepened, and he understood what Blue meant. He looked at the lock more closely. It seemed completely unaffected by the hack, save for a small corner where the blaster had melted it.

"Where do we start for the key?" he asked, picking up Blue's blaster. It was busted for good, no doubt fried to a crisp because of the shock. Parts fell off as Rouge picked it up. Blue was nearly defenseless now. Blue was about to answer when another voice, deep and menacing, sounded.

"It would be wise to start here," came a cold, robotic voice. Blue could barely stand, and Rouge snapped around protectively as, right in front of them, stood an estimate of 15 robots. Not one of them was under 5 feet, and they were made of platinum steel alloy, the very best of metals available. And they had Hyperion Bazookas equipped. The leader held a small card attached to a chain, which gleamed in the light.

"The card key!" Rouge cried, and stepped forward, "Hand it over!" He lunged for the robot, but it simply strode back, and Rouge fell to the floor.

"Ridiculous human," the robot said, its eyes glowing red, "If you want the key, you must fight us all! Prepare to be annihilated!" Rouge scrambled to his feet as the bazookas behind the robots all began to click and take aim at both him and Blue. There was no way to survive fifteen blasts of Hyperion toxins. But just as the first rocket was about to hit Rouge, something stopped it and repelled it in a flash of blazing light.

"In the word of all that is holy and honorable, I shall not let you win!" as Rouge opened his eyes, he saw that Alkaiser was standing in front of him, with shattered glass around them. Obviously, he'd come in through breaking a window, but it didn't detract from the luminous glow of holiness that was Alkaiser.

"So you think, puny mortal," the robot said, completely unfazed by the appearance of the superhero. It aimed another rocket at Alkaiser, but the rocket was vaporized in a holy shield before it hit.

"Give it up, you bucket of vile bolts!" Alkaiser boomed, punching the robot with such force that it crashed through another window, taking four more with it. If his initial appearance didn't scare the robots, his attack definitely did. The robots instantly withdrew, drawing in their weapons.

"Retreat!" one of them yelled, as they began to run away, "Retreat! Warning! Error! Danger!" As it yelled, alarms and sirens were going off. Rouge swore as he helped Blue up, who was still quite unsteady from the heavy shock.

"Shit! We have to get out of here!" Rouge cried, "Alkaiser, what do we do!?" Alkaiser, who had gone after another robot, decided to come back and heed the call. He pointed majestically to a window.

"We shall do the clichéd ideals and climb the walls to the roof!" Alkaiser cried, with much more dramatic heroism in his voice than Rouge felt comfortable with, "But we shall do it with HONOR!" Before Rouge could even protest, or get Blue out of the way, Alkaiser picked them both up with little effort and crashed through another window, despite the fact that there were six other perfectly broken windows right there to climb through. Then, through some odd magic, he began to walk… or more, run up the wall as though it were horizontal. Blue had blacked out from another shock of having crashed through a window, and Rouge was too busy screaming to observe the most obscure magic that Alkaiser seemed to possess.

"Alkaiser!! Stop! Put us down!" Rouge yelled, struggling to get himself freed, "Blue's not strong enough for this kind of activity! _PUT ME DOWN OR I'LL KILL YOU!_" Alkaiser seemed to be ignoring all types of threats issuing from Rouge's mouth as they continued at a fast run.

"I implore you, innocent citizen, to cease your yelling at once!" Alkaiser called, "We could be alerting the enemy!" Rouge stopped screaming for a minute and twitched wildly, enraged both at how he couldn't do anything for the minute and at the lack of concern for Blue that Alkaiser had.

"What part of _Blue is injured_ do you NOT understand!?" Rouge yelled back, "He could die of shock! I don't want that! I don't even want this!" Alkaiser, unfortunately, was just about as moronic as Red was, and still didn't see the problem.

"Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Alkaiser said, as they passed what must've been the 30th floor, "If Blue must be sacrificed to save the world, then so be it." This time, Rouge let out a blood-curdling scream, a scream so harsh and angry that even Alkaiser had to jump and land on a balcony and set Blue down before he stopped. Even then, Rouge screamed a sentence that, if Blue wasn't sure that Rouge cared about him before, then he was definitely sure now.

"I will NOT let anything harm my brother!" Rouge cried out, his eyes glowing red with anger. Alkaiser seemed to finally get the message, and took off his helmet to reveal Red, who was pale with worry now. He had never seen Rouge so angry.

"Rouge, relax!" Red called, "My personality is in control! Alkaiser fled when he felt your strength! We'll go up when Blue wakes up!" But that didn't calm Rouge in the least, as he repeated what he had said, in a more dangerous tone, if that was possible.

"_I WILL NOT LET ANYTHING HARM MY BROTHER!_"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, at least Blue and Rouge managed to get through most of the building unharmed! And Alkaiser, or Red, joined them once again! But, with Rouge in a fit on anger, can they take on Anita and stop the rancid magic? Or will Rouge return to his old ways and attack his friends, endangering his brother's life before they can stop Anita? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	12. Deadly new form! Aubergine the Master!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

Red now stood on the balcony of one of the upper offices of the CIC building, Alkaiser's armor gleaming in the sunlight and Rouge glaring at him from across the balcony. Rouge's eyes were burning with red, and near the door sat an unconscious Blue, his hair tie undone and his hair covering his face. Red shivered, not just from the wind that blew from being so high up, but from the anger he could feel in Rouge's voice. He backed up a little, but Rouge kept their distance minimal.

"Rouge, please, calm down," Red said, holding his hands up and hoping that would show Rouge he didn't want to fight, "Alkaiser isn't here anymore. I'm in control and I said we should rest." Rouge, however, just didn't seem to have even heard what was being said.

"You almost killed my own brother," Rouge growled, lifting his arms up, "And now I'm going to kill you." The wind blew even more fiercely than before, and it all seemed to be coming from Rouge himself. Lightning flashed behind him, striking his hands. But he didn't react in pain. He simply laughed and threw the lightning back at Red, who narrowly avoided it.

"Whoa! Rouge, stop!" Red yelled, as he ducked under another lightning bolt, "I'm sorry! I tried to keep him out! But you can't summon this much power! GEH!" Red had to roll to avoid a large boulder that Rouge seemed to have magically conjured out of nothing, and it smashed into the railing, breaking it to pieces. Taking advantage of Red's pause to recover, Rouge threw another lightning bolt. Red practically danced to get out of its way, and it broke one of the windows. Red panted, but knew he couldn't stop moving. But at that moment, Rouge stopped throwing his magic. Obviously, seeing Red run away wasn't amusing anymore.

"Why are you trying to get me to stop?" Rouge asked darkly, as the winds slowly died down. He allowed Red to catch his breath before forcing an answer. Red sat down as Rouge continued, "Are you afraid of me? Or is it a trick?" Red shook his head.

"Neither. I'm trying to stop you," Red began, panting again to catch another breath of cold air, "So you don't hurt Blue. What happens if you're the one who kills him?" Rouge lowered his hands, and his eyes returned to their normal, blue color. He looked over at Blue. Blue was still unconscious, but Rouge could hear him telling him that what he was doing wasn't right. Rouge looked down.

"I don't know... I didn't think about that risk," Rouge replied quietly, "It's just that Alkaiser didn't even seem to care that he was endangering Blue. What kind of hero acts like that?" Red sighed, and got to his feet. He walked over and patted Rouge on the shoulder, leading him to a part of the railing that was still sturdy and unharmed. Rouge leaned on it, but said nothing more. Red leaned next to him.

"Alkaiser and I are two different parts," Red explained, "I'm the human part, the part that has actual feelings and emotions. Alkaiser, well... he's not human. He's simply the part of me that wants to be a hero. To save as many people as possible, no matter what the risk is. Unfortunately, I'm the side with the ability to care if someone's already in danger. All Alkaiser can do is weigh which deed is more important. And to him, saving a city was more important than saving one person." Rouge looked over the railing to the road far down below. From up here, he could see nothing except a small gray strip. He didn't want to enlist Alkaiser anymore, not after what Red said. But did he even have a choice?

"Is that what he means by 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?" Rouge asked, though he didn't look over at Red. Red nodded.

"Yeah. It's a saying all heroes need to memorize," Red explained, "It's a good sentiment if you have no one in the world to care about. But I don't like how the heroes think at all. They don't appear to care if you agree with them or not, as long as they benefit their own cause. I used to think differently." Rouge finally looked over at Red, arching a confused eyebrow.

"What made you change your way?" Rouge asked. Red laughed.

"Black X actually helped me see that, believe it or not," Red admitted, "He was right when he said I didn't have a choice as to who I was. Alkarl made me a hero. I used to think it was because I was meant to do something, but now I see it was to simply stop Black X. Yeah, I wanted to get him for kidnapping my family, but I didn't want to lose my life in the process. I'm always worrying if Alkaiser will take over and do something like that to someone. To make them something they don't want to be." Rouge bit his lip, feeling bad for getting so upset. It wasn't Red's fault that Blue was like this. Red didn't have a choice, and Rouge was sure he had a hard time controlling Alkaiser.

"Is there a way to separate you and Alkaiser?" Rouge asked, but Red shook his head.

"No. I tried to ask Alkarl, but he said that this is who I am now," Red replied, almost bitterly, "I mean, I like helping people, but Alkaiser takes it too far. I've gotten better at telling him what to do, that's what the button was for. But now without it..." Rouge blinked, his eyes wide. Red hadn't fixed the button at all. That was why Alkaiser had come quickly.

"You couldn't fix the button!?" Rouge cried, alarmed. Red nodded grimly and showed Rouge the parts he kept in his pocket.

"Nope. It's smashed beyond repair," Red replied, "The internal computer chip is cracked and the data inside can't be recovered. When I smashed it, I must've stomped on the chip." Rouge looked at the broken parts. The plastic wasn't a worry, but he saw that the chip Red mentioned was definitely destroyed. It wasn't just cracked, it was broken. And both Blue and Fuse said that once anything mechanical is broken, chances are it couldn't be fixed.

"After this, maybe we can see if anyone in Nakajima Robotics could help," Rouge suggested, as Red put the button away, "They might have another chip you could use, and I know they can easily repair your button." Red seemed to be considering this, and finally nodded his head in agreement. A new button would help, but right now they had more important things to do.

"Sure. I'm pretty sure I'll be fired, anyway, so I'll have lots of free time," Red commented, as he went to pick Blue up, "Thankfully, I'm crossed between being in Alkaiser's suit and having my own personality intact. I have his strength, so we can get up to Anita if you want. In any case, we can't stay here forever." Rouge helped Red get Blue onto his shoulders, and then agreed that they should head up again. There was a ladder going upwards, so they took that instead of running up the wall. Red knew Blue needed to be stable, and running up a wall wasn't the way to do so. Rouge let Red get ahead on the ladder before climbing up himself, but he had this sick feeling as he climbed. Was he scared?

"Red, how big is the CIC building, anyway?" Rouge asked, shutting the feeling out of his mind and focusing on the ladder. Red, who was higher up, barely heard the question, but answered.

"About 40 floors. We should be getting pretty close to the top," Red answered, though his voice was strained with the effort he actually needed to keep Blue up. Maybe he hadn't received Alkaiser's strength. Down below, Rouge simply kept quiet after that. Now that he thought about it, they never actually had a plan as to what they'd do once they reached the top. If Anita wasn't there, they'd have to go inside again and look for her. With her robotic goons swarming around, Rouge really disliked that idea. But if Anita was up there, they'd be one man short, and that man was their strongest force right now. Rouge shivered, as every idea seemed bad without Blue around to help them out.

"No, I can't keep relying on Blue," Rouge told himself sternly as he continued his climb, "I'm an adult too. I can't make Blue hold my hand through every little obstacle I find. He's in no condition to do anything. I need to stop Anita without him." As Rouge finished his self-imposed lecture, he realized just how much Blue had actually helped him before. Even during their own battle, inside that magical chamber, Blue couldn't bring himself to kill Rouge. Rouge was willing to destroy him, but didn't only because Blue said there was another way. And now he realized that he really didn't want to do anything because Blue always found a safe way. Rouge closed his eyes as he continued climbing. He could hear that Red had already reached the rooftop, he could hear the wind roaring, and he could hear Red setting Blue down, but they sounded muffled as he tried to concentrate on his thoughts. He wanted to be stronger. And he would be. He'd force himself to be. Rouge kept thinking that until his hand felt not the metal rung, but brick. He opened his eyes and saw that he had made it to the rooftop as well. He pulled himself up and saw Blue sitting off to the side, supported by the lip of the roof. Red was observing the scene.

"Do you see anything?" Rouge asked, as he walked over to Blue to make sure he was all right. Red turned around and shook his head.

"No. Anita's not up here," Red replied, walking over to help Rouge, "And you can definitely see the smog down below. Maybe the disease isn't coming from CIC at all." Seeing as how he was patching Blue up, Rouge didn't answer right away. But he knew CIC was involved. He and Blue had felt their magic coming back as they climbed through. As soon as he had bandaged Blue's hand up and gotten some potions into him, Rouge leaned Blue back onto the lip and glanced at Red again.

"It's definitely from CIC. When Blue and I were running up the stairs to another floor, we could slowly feel our magic, the power that the disease locked out, returning to us," Rouge explained, "And we found traces of radiation in the lower floors. Blue said radiation has some pretty weird effects, and he's sure that's what's causing everyone to get so sick. It nearly mesmerized us." Red looked skeptical as Rouge explained what happened, but there were no other leads for them to follow. Either way, they needed to be at CIC. Red simply nodded as Rouge finished the story.

"Well, that's good, at least. You'll be able to use your magic on Anita," Red stated, turning and looking over the horizon. From how high they were, they could see that the sun was about ready to set. It must've been close to 5 PM.

"That's assuming we can be faster and smarter than she is," Rouge replied grimly, "Blue's recovering, but I'm not sure he can battle. If he can't, I'll be the sole mage. And though I hate to admit it, Blue's stronger than I am. I traded some strength for the ability to sniff out different magical scents. I'm guessing Blue didn't realize the choice and lost it automatically when he gained his first set of magic outside of Realm." Red blinked, and turned to Rouge.

"You mean you didn't learn any other magic?" he asked. Rouge shook his head.

"No. Didn't you wonder why I kept using those little magical crystals on Blue and not actual spells?" Rouge asked, arching an eyebrow, "If he found out then and there that I hadn't actually learned any other magic, he might've taken pity on me. And nothing's worse for either magician in question than pity." Red didn't blame Rouge there. Nothing was worse for _anyone_ than pity. He waited for Rouge to continue, but Rouge didn't say anything more. He just looked distantly into the setting sun and orange sky. He was worried about Blue, no doubt, and Red guessed he also felt partly guilty about it, too.

"So how long until Blue wakes up?" Red asked, trying to change the grim subject. Rouge glanced over at his incapacitated brother and shrugged.

"With any luck, less than an hour," Rouge replied, turning his gaze right back into the sky, "I tried using a Starlight Heal to help him, but since I don't have the "gift" for it, it probably didn't do much to help him. Geh, sometimes I wish I didn't come from the Magic Kingdom. It's not like I can go back there, anyway." Rouge stuffed his hands into his pockets, and Red watched him as he paced around for a bit, ranting, "What's the point of being a magician, anyway? Other people can use magic without those gifts, but if you're unlucky, like us, you need to actually learn the gifts before you can do diddly-squat. It's like a handicap more than it is a blessing." Red kept silent. He didn't know what to say to help Rouge. He wasn't a magician, and he was born in Shrike. Though he was a superhero, he was still a regular person at heart. Rouge and Blue just weren't.

"Sure, it wouldn't be so bad if mom and dad were actually around for our childhood, but we were raised by teachers and masters. We always had to study, even more than the other little brats running around the kingdom," Rouge continued, "And for what? To lose our senses or be stunted in magic? Blue always thought of work like a chore. It _had_ to be done, in his mind. That's why he studies so hard, but look where it gets him. We can't hold normal jobs, we can't talk about anything trivial because we study so much, and the only girl Blue attracted is a Mystic. If the masters could see what happened to us, I'd make sure to kick one of them where the sun doesn't shine for it." Red remained silent, though inside he was laughing at how bitter Rouge was becoming as he remembered the Magic Kingdom. Out of the corner of his eye, Red saw something sit up, but didn't say anything about it. He might've only been seeing things, until that something actually spoke.

"Do you really believe that, Rouge?" that voice belonged to Blue, who was working on standing up. He needed to hold onto the railing to maintain his balance, and his hair was dangling in his face. The sight would've been horrifying, if Rouge weren't so happy to see him up and about.

"Blue! You're okay!" Rouge exclaimed, running over and hugging Blue, "And yes, I really believe that. Why shouldn't I, Blue? They said it themselves, they made a mistake with us." Blue smiled and patted Rouge on the head, as though he were a young child, but his voice remained firm as he spoke.

"That's why they let us leave the kingdom," Blue replied, "They didn't banish us like you think. But they knew that once we saw the real world, a world outside of magic, that we'd never want to go back to the rigorous study." Rouge nodded, and let go of Blue.

"But you still study all the time," Rouge stated simply, frowning. Blue chuckled. Rouge had a point. He did spend many of his nights in his room, reading magical tomes.

"I like to study, Rouge," Blue replied just as simply, "I don't just study magic, though. I study about the world, history, culture, art, all sorts of things. Ever since we were kids, I liked books. I don't study for them. Truth is, I never have. That's why I'm not angry with them. I never actually did anything for them, including facing you. I did that because I wanted to see if I could best my own brother. Not to fulfill some stupid prophecy they made up." Rouge's smile returned as Blue spoke, admiring him for actually going against whatever they've known all these years. Maybe letting him live wasn't a mistake like he'd first thought. After all, Rouge also wasn't willing to kill Blue. He let go of Blue, and looked at those blue eyes that were identical to his own.

"So then, did you hear anything before that?" Rouge asked. Blue nodded.

"Yes, I did," Blue replied, crossing his arms sternly, "Can't say I blame you, but that's a dangerous move, Rouge. Why didn't you tell me this before? I could've helped you, and you would've been able to help as you'd wanted." Rouge shrugged, and sat down on the ground, sighing. In truth, he himself didn't know why he'd keep that from Blue. He wasn't ashamed, and he didn't care much for their masters. To them, he and Blue were simply experiments and students, not actual people.

"I guess I didn't think it was overly important," Rouge finally answered, when the truth still didn't get to him, "I mean, I do have Realm Magic, and I've mastered all its spells, so I guess I depended on it to get me through everything. But now, after seeing you unconscious, I suppose I'm just worried about not being able to stop Anita." Blue gave a half-smile, as though he didn't know whether to share Rouge's worry or to simply encourage him. But they both knew now wasn't the time for having doubts. Blue simply patted Rouge's shoulder.

"We'll stop her, Rouge," Blue assured, "I've mastered a lot of magics, and I'm sure one of them can heal us if we need it. Besides, who says we need to necessarily fight her? In my unconscious stupor, I had the time to think this through, and what if there's a way to bypass fighting?" Rouge tilted his head, interested in Blue's idea. Red was busy staring off to something unseen, but neither Blue nor Rouge noticed this as they continued to plan ahead.

"What kind of way are we talking here?" Rouge asked, raising a skeptical brow, "I don't think she's a 'strike a deal' type of person, especially since we ruined her plan and stopped the cargo from getting here." Blue snickered, and shook his head with amusement. Rouge was right, technically, but Blue was diplomatic and smooth with words when it came to it. Many a time, he bribed and bargained his way out of problems, and now he was happy to tell Rouge that... except that he didn't as he explained further.

"She won't take a deal," Blue confirmed, "This is true. This is _very_ true, Rouge, but she WILL take blackmail and a bribe."

"Oooooh! Sneaky!" Rouge exclaimed, clapping, "Are we going to threaten her, then?" Blue shook his head once again.

"No. At least not with a death threat," Blue replied, making Rouge slump sadly, "We'll save that for later. First, we'll try using IRPO. We already have the reports and proof that she's been controlling the Cygnus for a while, so if we threaten to send these to Fuse, she may just be willing to stop whatever she's planning." Rouge's eyebrow went up again. He didn't like that plan. Anita must've known about the reports, and Rouge was sure she had some form of immunity from the law if she could manage this under their noses.

"I don't know, Blue. I'm not so sure that'll work," Rouge stated bluntly, "She's been doing this for a while, it seems. What if she's got some sort of way to keep IRPO from finding this? Our threat won't mean much if she does." Blue stroked his chin, thinking of some other way to halt Anita's plans, whatever they were. But nothing would come to him that didn't involve fighting. Finally, Blue threw his hands up in frustration.

"What can we do then?" Blue asked, exasperated. Rouge opened his mouth to speak, but Red finally beat him to it. And he sounded very afraid of something. Whatever he was looking at couldn't be a good thing.

"Running might be an excellent idea," Red said slowly, and both brothers turned to face him. He was pale, and Alkaiser's armor had completely vanished.

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked, as Blue followed his gaze. Red pointed to what he had previously been looking at. As both brothers looked, they screamed. There, on the lip and hanging off the rooftop was a giant spider. Exactly 50 feet high, with eight spindly, hairy legs, with a woman's head on its hairy neck, it stared at them with its black, vacuous eyes. Blue could feel his magic being sucked away just staring at them.

"What the hell is that!?" Blue asked, unable to find another way of asking. Rouge was shivering, too frozen in fear to respond. Red stepped back and had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Blue moved to get his gun until he remembered he didn't have it. He cursed, but didn't prepare a spell until he knew what they were facing. The spider-creature clicked two of its legs and answered him.

"Greetings, gentlemen," she hissed, moving onto the rooftop just enough for her spider body to fit, "I am Anita Campbell. I do believe you have an appointment with me? Though, I am impressed you were able to beat my life-depleting mist and security force." Rouge and Blue looked at each other, very concerned. Though they were away from the mist, the people below weren't. Many lives were in severe danger.

"Life-depleting... So you _were_ behind this!" Rouge yelled, pointing at the large beast, "You're poisoning everyone! That's why you needed the metal from the Cygnus, wasn't it? To conduct the radiation like a lightning-rod!" Blue clenched his teeth and let out an angry growl. Anita, however, just smiled and clicked her two front legs together again, obviously her way of clapping. No one took it as a compliment.

"Very good! You ARE a smart little magician!" Anita applauded, narrowing her eyes, "I must say, I didn't think little slugs like you could possibly have found out what I've been doing. Now tell me, how do you plan to tell anyone about this after being ripped apart?" Before anyone could react, Anita leapt into the air. Blue, Rouge, and Red scattered from their positions as she crashed into the middle of the roof, spreading dust around everywhere. Neither Rouge nor Red hesitated as they drew their weapons. Blue closed his eyes and focused on casting Vermillion Sand. Rouge jumped in front of him to attack and protect Blue as he prepared the spell, but the bullet simply clinked off of Anita's hide.

"Please tell me physical attacks work!" Rouge cried, when Red's attack did absolutely nothing. Red, who landed next to Rouge, sighed and wiped his forehead, which was covered in sweat.

"I don't think they do," Red replied grimly, as he avoided a slash from one of Anita's legs, "Her defense is too high." Anita reared up for another attack, when three giant boulders slammed into her, and then shattered into sand, slowing down time for just a minute. Through some unseen force, the sand heaved Anita high into the air and out of sight. Blue kept his eyes closed, willing the sand to bring her higher and higher up. Rouge lowered his gun, raising a very confused eyebrow.

"Blue, where the hell did she go?" Rouge asked, though his voice was a bit higher than normal and he sounded scared. Blue opened one eye slightly, but didn't break his concentration. He didn't dare to, and Rouge knew that.

"Wait for it," Blue answered sternly, and threw his hands up. At first, it didn't seem like Anita would be coming back any time soon, but then both Red and Rouge heard a loud roaring of wind, like a plane slicing through the air, and Anita's large spider body became visible as it plunged toward them. Red jumped back as Rouge pulled Blue with him to safety. Anita crashed mercilessly into the ceiling, spraying everyone with a fine dusty mist. Blue finally opened his eyes and smiled at the results. Anita didn't move, at least, not at first.

"Is she dead?" Red asked, carefully walking over in case she stirred, "Oh, she has to be dead! There's no way she could've survived that, is there?" He looked over at the two twins, but neither answered. Blue leaned against the railing to catch his breath as Rouge came over to investigate. Anita definitely seemed at least a little paralyzed, but the fight seemed way too easy to Rouge. He had a feeling something wasn't right.

"I've never seen any spell have so much power generated into it," Rouge whispered, impressed, "Whatever you did, bro, she's not moving." Rouge turned around and gave the thumbs-up to Blue, who smiled and waved in response. Rouge gave a proud laugh, but just as he was about to walk away, a spidery leg sprung up, twitching. Red was too busy looking to see if the mist had dissipated, but Blue caught it. He gasped, and Rouge looked at him with alarm.

"Blue, what's wr..."

"Rouge, look out!" Before Rouge could even understand what was going on, Blue was charging towards him and pushing him out of the way. The spidery claw came slamming down and slashed Blue across the back, causing Blue to let out an agonizing scream and fall to the floor, blood spilling everywhere. Rouge heard someone somewhere screaming, and then realized the screaming was coming from himself. Red had seen, but he seemed so far away. All Rouge could see was Blue, and he was in terrible pain. Rouge could feel his fury rising, the sight of his brother slowly dying filling his mind. Suddenly, his eyes flashed red again, and his hair billowed in an unseen wind. He glared at Anita, who had begun to pick herself up, though her legs seemed to be having trouble supporting her body. Red was inching away, trying to reach the rooftop door. Rouge didn't care, though. Red was not his target, and Red would find help... maybe. Right now, all Rouge wanted was to kill Anita.

"Oh shit," Red cursed, backing away, "Rouge's gone into his insane mode again. I just hope he doesn't think I'm against him, too." Red seemed hesitant to move forward, as though Rouge might look back and decide to kill him, but Rouge's glaring gaze never left Anita. He continued to stare her down, even as Red pulled on the heavy iron door. Anita, seeing this as well, knew what he would do. He was going to get help. She aimed a leg at him and shot out a sticky ooze to trap him, but Rouge slammed an Energy Chain into the web before it hit and made it burst into intense fire. Anita whipped her leg away.

"So now without your brother, you'll finally put up a fight?" Anita asked, her voice an angry hiss of a snake, "What kind of cop are you?" Rouge's eyes turned into a deeper red, but he didn't smile and his eyes didn't flicker. He didn't even move a muscle, save his mouth for speaking.

"The kind that will kill you and make sure you burn in hell," Rouge replied darkly, "For not only endangering the lives of thousands for your meaningless experiments, but for my brother as well. He's the reason I'm still alive. I owe it to him to kick your ass." He glanced at Red again, willing him to go and get help. Red nodded, and opened the large door, running through it. Anita went to shoot another blast of web-string at Red, but Rouge set it on fire again. Anita hissed angrily.

"You're becoming annoying!" she exclaimed angrily. Rouge still didn't smile, as he summoned another Energy Chain. This time, his whole body glowed a luminous blue to match the hues of his spell. Anita could feel the power in him, but it didn't scare her. Not yet, anyway.

"Then let's end this. I'd hate to keep pestering you like this," Rouge replied emotionlessly, "Because it'd only stall my ability to kill you." Anita's eyes narrowed. How DARE a little ingrate like that go against her. That thought flew through her mind along with the thought of ripping Rouge limb from limb. Then she'd go and finish Blue off. She looked down at the motionless figure that was Blue. She could kill him right now, in one hit. Rouge's slits narrowed.

"Don't you dare," he growled, averting her attention with his spell. Anita's head snapped from Blue to her front leg, where the spell slammed into it. She screamed, and took her leg away. It was burned, and paralyzed. Rouge finally smiled, a dark smile. One that he hadn't worn since he first faced Blue. Back then, he only used it to scare his opponents. But now, he planned to force Anita's hand with such a look, the look that said that even if she killed Rouge, she'd still lose. Anita hated that look.

"Stop smirking, you disgusting little maggot," she spat, scowling deeply. But Rouge's smirk didn't fade. In fact, it grew. His hand glowed green, as did Blue's body. Rouge closed his eyes, and focused. He could hear an odd whirring sound, but ignored it. Finally, silence took over. He opened his eyes, but he was no longer the same person. He saw his own body on the ground, and looked at the glass near it. Though he was still Rouge, he had Blue's hairstyle. His robes were purple, and his eyes were two different hues of blue. He had fused with Blue, despite their condition in battle. Anita gasped, horrified at what she saw. The strength that poured off of Rouge was now immeasurable. Though Rouge's dark smirk was gone, it was replaced with a serene, quiet frown. One that you'd see on a disappointed angel. Rouge spoke, but it was Blue's voice that came from inside of him.

"Anita," he said, and the wind calmed with every syllable he spoke, "With our combined power, we have become one. Now you will face The Master Aubergine." Anita tried to back away, as she now realized she wouldn't win. But two of her legs had broken from the fall she took, and another was burned from Rouge's spell. She didn't budge. Aubergine approached, holding out his hand. A ball of light appeared, and grew with each step he took. Anita shivered and twitched, but was unable to move. Her legs wouldn't obey her command to slash at Aubergine. He didn't smile, and there was little emotion as he spoke his next few words.

"Prepare to die."

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, now that Anita has appeared, things certainly looked grim for our heroes. But with Blue and Rouge now fused into their intended form, Aubergine, can he be enough to stop Anita? What will happen to the twins that we love so much? How can they explain what happened to Fuse? And can Red find the help Blue needs if they de-fuse? Find out the answers next chapter, so click that Review button!


	13. Campbell Infection: A deadly Conspiracy

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

"Prepare to die," as the words left Aubergine's mouth, the sky became not dark, like it had with just Rouge, but a luminous golden, as though an angel had truly appeared. Anita shook, unable to hide the fear she suddenly felt at waking such a creature. Though his face remained emotionless and unreadable, Aubergine moved his hand to the hilt of a sword and pulled it out, revealing a large, blue sword made of pure light. Shadows danced around it as Aubergine moved it in a ritualistic manner. Anita twitched as she watched.

"No!" she hissed, trying her best to move just one leg, "I won't let you win!" Finally, she managed to move one, raising it into the air. Bending it to remind herself she had complete control, Anita aimed it directly at Aubergine. He deflected the attack, but that wasn't her true target as the sword flew out of his hands and landed onto the ground beside her.

"Now what are you going to do, my little magician!?" she demanded, trying to intimidate him. But it didn't work. Aubergine remained calm, as though he expected that. Anita clenched her teeth, furious at him. Bending her leg again, she made a grab for the sword. But as she grabbed it, she screamed and pulled her hand back as she said, "What trickery is this!?"

"You cannot take the Holy Sword of the Goddess," Aubergine replied calmly, floating down a little bit, "Only the true Master and Heir of Our Blessed Kingdom can wield such a sword. All others will be refused." Anita smirked, almost amused with the explanation. She looked at Aubergine with such an intensity.

"You act as though this is a fairy tale!" she spat mockingly, "You must wake up, little magician. Allow me to help you along." Freeing another leg, she went to slash at Aubergine, and yet he didn't make a move. A bright aura appeared around him, and her leg burned mercilessly, resulting in her letting out another terrifying scream. Aubergine looked almost sympathetic, but only his eyes showed the slightest bit of emotion.

"Your arrogance will be your demise, Anita," Aubergine stated, floating down even more, "The unholy cannot harm the blessed. Not truly." Anita twitched, as half of her legs were killed off.

"Be silenced, cretin!" she screamed, using another leg to spew that sticky, spider substance at Aubergine. But, it was simply incinerated by his protective aura. Finally, emotion hit him. Not anger, not sadness, but rather quelled annoyance. She was boring him!

"Do you not see that as long as you attack with blindness, you cannot hurt me?" he asked, landing gracefully on the roof, "Or, are you so blind as to burn your own legs?" Anita hissed, snapping her large fangs together.

"Stop speaking in riddles!" she demanded, her voice at such a pitch that she shattered windows down below. But Aubergine didn't flinch, nor did he appear to have been affected at all by the sound of crunching glass.

"As you wish. Allow me to speak with my mind," he said, but Anita simply hissed again as he reached for the sword. She stopped him dead in his tracks by slamming her leg into the ground in front of him.

"Stop your nonsense and fight me!" she roared, "Or are _you_ so much of a coward!?" Aubergine raised an amused eyebrow, finding it laughable that Anita insisted on fighting him. Then, he grinned that evil grin that only Rouge could be capable of.

"You would dare such a risk?" he asked, and nodded wickedly, "Then I shall grant you that. I am no coward, so allow me my sword, and you will have your fight." Anita, however, didn't move.

"It'll be more fun to make you work for your sword," she said. Aubergine looked at her, and simply moved to approach the sword from a different angle. But once again, she moved her leg to block him. He moved again, as did she. Finally, she asked, "What's wrong? Did I reach the limit of your brain?" Aubergine laughed, finally ending his calm. The sky remained a glorious golden, but thick clouds rose forth, booming with thunderclaps that threatened to break the sound barrier. Winds roared, ripping trees from their very roots and tossing them aside. And when Aubergine looked at Anita again, his eyes were even more black and wicked than Rouge's ever would be. His wings, once a luminous white, were a deep black, whipping a small gust with every flap.

"Quite the opposite," he said, both Rouge and Blue's voices speaking, giving an eerie sound, "We're only getting started. There will be no mercy for you any longer." Raising his arms up, Aubergine chanted something with that same, eerie split voice, and the sky quickly darkened. Buildings disappeared, and he and Anita were falling. Soon, flashes of red could be seen, and Anita realized it was lava. Aubergine was warping the very fabrics of space itself. Fear once again gripped Anita.

"What are you doing!?" she asked, flinching at how muffled her voice was. But Aubergine's was even louder than before, and it made her very core rattle with terror as he spoke.

"We will battle in the very depths of hell, where the loser shall rest for all eternity, to suffer the death of a thousand worlds," he said in that split voice, "A place of such terror… such pain, that you will never forget the excruciating screams that echo through the souls of the damned." Anita didn't like this, and as the warping stopped, and their battlefield came into view, she tried to run. But her legs wouldn't support her body. Shadows crept through the cracks in the ground toward Aubergine, covering his face so that she could see nothing of it save for the glowering of his red eyes. He held out his hand, and his sword flew to him. But now it was no longer a sword. It was a scythe, incased completely in flames, with spirits swirling around it.

"Have you any words before I throw you into the very bowels of hell?" Aubergine asked, but Anita found herself speechless. In all of her power in the world above, with all of the influence she could command, toward all of the crimes she committed, there was nothing Anita could do to get out of this. Nothing would help her as she stared at the most horrifying creature she had ever faced.

Meanwhile, Red ran down a very long flight of stairs, trying his best to keep his attention divided while remaining graceful. His mind kept wandering to the fight going on the rooftop, and he nearly fell down the stairs for a third time before he finally stopped running. He forced himself to calm down.

"I'm really worried… Rouge wasn't in good shape when I left him," Red said, leaning against a railing, "But I need to calm down before I kill myself. Okay, just relax…" As Red spoke, he looked at his watch, "It's only been 15 minutes. I doubt anyone won… But Anita wasn't doing well, either. Okay, I'll get to a phone and get Fuse. He'll know what to do." Feeling this plan was right, once again, Red continued down the stairs. When he came to a door, he tried to open it, only to find that it was locked. Sighing, he walked down another flight to another door. But again, that one was also locked. As were the next three he tried. Finally, Red swore.

"Damn it!" he yelled, pulling as hard as he could on a door, "Are _all_ of these doors locked?!" Already having a pretty good answer, Red gave the door a mighty, frustrated kick. It bent in a little, but it didn't collapse. And he wasn't going to risk Alkaiser again, especially after using so much power. He decided to keep going until he reached the first floor. But after running and passing another ten doors, Red started to lose his steam.

"How many flights does this stupid building have!?" Red cried, as something came hurtling from above, "_HOLY CRUD!_" Red jumped away just as a huge piece of plaster slammed into the floor and continued until a large, earth shattering crash was heard far below. Red blinked, and then crept closer to the large crate that used to be the stairs. He looked down, but could see nothing except the swirling dust.

"What the hell was that?!" Red asked, scaling the stairs with his eyes to see just how far he'd have to jump. And that was much farther than he could go, even if he morphed into Alkaiser.

'_We should investigate,_' came a voice inside Red's mind. He recognized it instantly, as it was none other than Alkaiser. Red blinked, hearing his voice.

"We? What we?" Red asked, "I'm not letting you out again." Red turned away very quickly, but he could still feel the guilt in Alkaiser.

'…_I'm sorry,_' Alkaiser said quietly, '_I'm sorry about your friend._' Out of the corner of his eye, Red could see a ghostly figure that was Alkaiser sitting casually on the banister, looking down. Red sighed.

"You almost killed him," Red stated very calmly, but sternly, "You didn't even care, either. How can I trust you to help me knowing you nearly killed Blue?" As he spoke, Red turned to face Alkaiser. Alkaiser looked up, and saw how much this affected Red. He knew Red didn't trust him, and for once, he understood why.

'_I thought stopping Anita was the most important thing to completing the mission,_' Alkaiser admitted, standing up, '_But I never realized… or even considered what it'd mean to the both of you. I'm truly sorry, and I promise to never make a decision that rash again. Not without you._' Red looked away, unable to process what Alkaiser was saying. He was glad Alkaiser realized what he did was wrong, but it felt awkward. Until now, Alkaiser was simply a force he had to deal with. If Alkaiser took over, Red had no choice but to let him do so, as though he were simply a passenger in a car. Red bit his lower lip.

"I still don't know, Alkaiser," Red replied, sitting on a stair that miraculously survived, "What if something happens and we're forced to make a decision like that? Then what'll you do?" Though he couldn't feel it, Red saw that Alkaiser put a ghostly gloved hand on his shoulder. He smiled weakly at the ghost.

'_We'll cross that bridge when it happens,_' Alkaiser said confidently, '_But right now, we must find Fuse. Rouge won't last long, even in his morphed state._' Red nearly hopped off the stair, shocked to hear that Rouge could morph.

"Wait, what!? He can morph!?" Red asked, as he suddenly transformed into Alkaiser. Alkaiser nodded, as Red was now the ghostly of the two.

"Yes. He and his brother fused into the legendary Holy Master Aubergine," Alkaiser replied, as they jumped down into the large crater that used to be the CIC's stairwell, "It's a long matter to discuss right now, but to make it short, he and Blue have the power to fuse together, because they are one in the same." It still didn't make much sense to Red, but he didn't speak anymore on the matter as they fell toward the ground floor. When Alkaiser reached it, he immediately punched the door down, running into the lobby of the building. It was deserted, as the receptionist laid near the front desk, dead.

'_Oh my god! Alkaiser, someone died!_' Red cried, noticing the body. Alkaiser walked over, knelt down, and sat the dead woman up. He checked her pulse, and sighed heavily, letting her fall again.

"The radiation killed her," Alkaiser confirmed grimly, making sure the woman was placed back down gently, "I'm guessing more people have died outside, then, because she wasn't infected badly. Just enough for her organs to swell and explode." He stood up and looked on the desk. The phone was working, but the headset wasn't plugged in. Alkaiser hung up the phone, as the busy tone was beeping, indicating the woman was trying to make a call before she died.

'_What do we do?_' Red asked, checking the body again.

"I don't know," Alkaiser said, taking off his helmet to reveal that he looked exactly like Red, except older, "Fuse can't do anything about the body because there's no obvious evidence as to why she died." As Alkaiser thought, Red kept checking, and gasped.

'_Maybe he can,_' Red said in alarm, '_Look._' Alkaiser looked again, and saw that the woman was lying in a pool of blood. She fell in such a way that she exposed slash wounds on her neck that were otherwise hidden by her blouse. Alkaiser's eyes widened.

"She was murdered…" he whispered, "But I felt an infection." Alkaiser leaned closer, but didn't want to move the body any more, as he knew that'd be tampering with the evidence.

'_Maybe she was infected as she was murdered,_' Red suggested, '_But what could've killed her? No one was feeling well enough to murder someone, were they?_' Alkaiser looked at the wounds again. They weren't dagger marks at all. They were jagged, looking more like something was trying to rip the woman apart. No human could've done that.

"A monster is the only explanation," Alkaiser said, leaning on the desk, "Look at those marks. Daggers and swords don't make those. They're too long for either blade. And jagged. No, I think something clawed into her." Red shivered as he stared at the woman. He didn't like what he saw, and he wanted to go home and sleep this all away.

'_We have to call Fuse,_' Red said strongly, and Alkaiser picked up the phone. He dialed the number, and it rung. And rung. And still rung some more. Alkaiser was ready to put the phone down when Fuse's voice finally came through.

"IRPO, officer Fuse speaking. How may I help you?" Fuse asked, over the phone. Red shrugged and narrowed one eye, giving a look that said simply "What the hell?!" as Alkaiser explained quickly.

"I'd like to report a murder," Alkaiser stated, trying his best to sound like Red, "We've found a woman here, dead. And I'm pretty sure she was killed. There's slash marks all over her shoulders." Before continuing, Alkaiser paused to make sure Fuse was actually listening.

"A murder!? All right, where are you?" Fuse asked, getting a pen and paper, though Alkaiser couldn't see that, "And give me any details you can." Alkaiser looked over at ghostly Red, who nodded vigorously. Alkaiser continued.

"I'm currently in the CIC lobby. Yes, the one in Manhattan," Alkaiser went on, "I was trying to reach a phone when I found the woman. I was coming from the rooftop. Why? Well… It's too difficult to explain over the phone. Right now, I'm reporting a murder. I'll explain when you get here." Red bit his lower lip, because he could hear the skepticism in Fuse's voice.

"Are you serious?" Fuse asked, "This better not be a prank. Do you know how many kids report false murders?" Alkaiser held the phone away, giving it a sharp glare.

"What do you mean, 'this better not be a prank!?" Alkaiser cried into the phone, angrily, "A woman was murdered! And more people will be killed soon, if you don't get your sorry ass here! I said it's too long to explain over the phone because we don't have time to waste! You'll see when you pull into Manhattan." Red hid his snickering, seeing Alkaiser developing more and more of a human personality. He was sure Alkaiser would lose his temper soon.

"I don't know. This doesn't sound like a reporting," Fuse stated sternly, "How do I know this isn't a prank? And if the woman was murdered, why didn't someone phone me sooner?" Alkaiser twitched, and this time he DID lose his temper.

"_YOU'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO TRUST ME!_" Alkaiser roared, and Red was sure that made Fuse fall out of the seat he was sitting in, "We just found her, and there's no one else in the building! It's been evacuated because an epidemic is spreading through Manhattan! Is that a good enough reason for you?" Fuse blinked as Alkaiser spoke, and pulled up a site on his laptop. Red could hear very fast typing. Fuse must've been looking for something.

"Epidemic… there've been reports of people in CIC getting sick," Fuse said, though he meant to only speak to himself, "All right, I'll be right there. Get to a safe spot, and if you can, call me on my cell phone. My number is 818-426-3873." Alkaiser was about to hang up when Red remembered an important question.

'_Where's he going to meet us!?_' he asked urgently. Alkaiser quickly relayed the question to Fuse, who took a minute to respond as he closed down his laptop.

"Right outside of the CIC building. Wait for me there," Fuse ordered, and hung up the phone. Alkaiser did the same, and looked at Red. Red was very nervous, and he kept glancing at the dead woman slumped against the desk.

"It'll be all right," Alkaiser assured, "Should we go and help Rouge out?"

'_No. We need to stay and meet with Fuse,_' Red reminded him, '_Besides, you aren't up to full power anyway. If you tried to help, Anita could probably kill you._' Alkaiser sat down in a chair and sighed, twirling his helmet in his hands.

"Then what can we do? You honestly want me to simply sit here and wait?" Alkaiser asked, exasperated. Red nodded grimly, sitting on another desk.

'_We have to, Alk,_' Red said firmly, '_Neither of us will do any good up there, and…_' Red was about to say more, but Alkaiser stood up very suddenly, and Red saw him tense up and draw his sword, which was glowing an intense blue.

"Red, hold on," Alkaiser whispered, "I hear something." Red held his breath and looked around the large lobby. It was dark, but he couldn't see anything moving. At least anything that wasn't covered from the shadows. He bent his head to try and listen, but he had no idea what he was actually looking for. Alkaiser made a silent step forward, his sword ready for a quick swipe. Then he stopped and waited. Whatever he was looking for, Red knew it must've been very close. Then, without warning, Alkaiser attacked.

"Hiyaaah!" Alkaiser cried, slashing what Red thought was thin air. But then something hissed angrily and a large lizard-like creature with sea-weed-like hair appeared, scurrying away before it turned to dust. Another creature just like it sprang from the ceiling, but Alkaiser slashed it to pieces. More came out, and soon Alkaiser was outnumbered.

'_Aw shit! Alk, hold on!_' Red called, and through some thought of his own, became solid and threw a heavy chair at a group of those sea-weed creatures. It slammed into them, and they turned to Red. Alkaiser slashed them all in quick succession, barely managing to parry a blow from behind as a boar-like creature rammed towards him. Though he managed to block, Alkaiser was still thrown quite a ways back.

"This is bad," he said grimly, getting up from a pile of broken wood that he managed to fall into. He dusted himself off, and brandished his sword again. Red was next to him, with his fists ready.

'_What are they!?_' Red asked, looking over at the small army that was beginning to assemble, '_And how are they getting inside!?_'

"They're known as Overshadowers," Alkaiser replied, watching in frustration, "They take on the mutated forms of animals and attack unknowing victims. They must be getting in through the basement or something to that extent." Red blinked, thinking about what Alkaiser was saying. Then, he grabbed a large board, holding it up like a shield. He had a plan to stop them.

'_Hold them off. I'm going to try and make a break for that door over there,_' Red stated, pointing. Alkaiser could just barely see a door on the other end of the room. It was taken off its hinges, and smoke was billowing out of it.

"Red, what are you planning?" Alkaiser asked, glancing at Red as he edged away from their tiny circle of a fort. Though Alkaiser couldn't see it, Red bit his lower lip. He was trying to time something.

'_If they're getting in through the basement, I'm going to cut them off. Just trust me,_' Red said. Although Alkaiser was skeptical, he did have a promise to keep. He held his sword high into the air and bent a ray of light to bounce off of it. The creatures hissed as they saw, drawn away from their prey to that shining light. Red grinned and leapt across the desk that served as a barrier, straight into the ranks of monsters. The light dazzled them in such a way as they didn't even notice Red as he dashed past. They kept watching the light bouncing off of the sword and ceiling. Alkaiser kept focusing on that light, willing it to grow brighter and brighter until it flooded the entire lobby. Red was glad he had his back turned, as he was protected from the blinding effects.

'_Looks like Alk there has everything under control_,' Red whispered to himself, '_Maybe trusting him wasn't a mistake._' As he made his way into the back of the room, the amount of monsters assembled decreased drastically. They became farther spread apart, as though they were either ordered to stop or had simply all come into the lobby. Yet, even so far away, they were still enticed by the light Alkaiser was emitting. Red could feel Alkaiser becoming tired, and knew he was using all of his power for that distraction. Guiltily, he said, '_Hang in there, buddy. I'm almost there._'

'_Just hurry up, Red,_' came a strained reply from the superhuman, '_Something is cutting off my power._' Red gripped the board tighter and sprinted to the end of the lobby. The door was dead ahead… but so was a large creature waddling out of it. Many more creatures followed it, and Red guessed that they purposely hid from the light. The leader of that group, a large, fat, sea-weed covered platypus, seemed to be having a hard time deciding whether he should pay attention to Red or to the light. But just as it seemed to make up its mind, the light went out. All of the monsters hissed angrily. Red didn't hesitate. He pushed the platypus back with the board and slammed it into place just as a large beast lunged forward. Red felt it slam into the wooden board as the board clicked into place. He prayed it would stay, and turned around only to face many angry, glowering red eyes piercing him. He gulped.

'_Alk, what happened!? Where's the light?_' Red asked, but could feel no response, '_Alk?_' Red couldn't see Alkaiser anywhere, and he felt his own body become solid. Wherever Alkaiser was, something had happened to him, and now Red was defenseless, as was the superhuman. Red cursed, and ran as fast as he could as something tried to claw at him. He didn't care where he went as he ran up toward the elevator. He just had to hide.

---

Aubergine and Anita both stood in complete darkness. The ground beneath them was solid, but hard to see against all of the darkness. The only light came from lava pools that glowed only softly at best. The gravel beneath the two crunched as they circled each other. Anita tried to stare Aubergine down, but the magician was emotionless.

"Why are you stalling?" he asked, "I thought you wished for a fight." Anita hissed angrily, tucking her injured legs beneath her large body. It was difficult to move with only three legs to support her, but she managed… just barely.

"Forgive me for boring you, but you did kill five of my legs," Anita spat, trying to control herself. She knew what Aubergine was trying. She wouldn't let him rile her. But his emotionless expression aggravated her.

"And yet you're the one who put yourself into this predicament," Aubergine retorted logically, "I just have one question. Why? Why are you doing this?" Anita smiled, but it was a vile, wicked smile. Aubergine expected nothing less.

"If you wished to control the world, how else would you do so besides instilling fear into your victims?" Anita asked, "It's a simple matter of loyalty, magician. If the people are sick, they will continue to buy my medical equipment. Radiated equipment leads to more sickness, which leads to more money, which leads to poverty among the masses. Do you see? The more I get, the more they rely on my company." Aubergine gasped, a disgusted, disdained gasp of true anger, and his voice became similar to Blue's only. Rouge was too shocked to lend his voice into their ultimate form.

"You would intentionally kill to dominate?" Aubergine asked, torn between shock and anger, "What happens when your mass dies? When there is nothing left?"

"That is where the radiation comes in. Through the use of the cloning equipment my late father invented, I have begun to unravel my DNA," Anita explained, "When the time comes, and when I'm no longer threatened by abolitionists like you, the eggs spawned from my cloning device will hatch, and a new race will dominate this pathetic planet. And they'll be ruled by me. Because they'll have a clone of my mind, they'll follow my every order. Any survivors of the Campbell plague will be annihilated." Aubergine's frown deepened.

"You honestly think you can win? You're a crippled shell of yourself," Aubergine stated, "I won't let you operate that machine you're talking about." Anita simply laughed, and through a sheer force of evil, that laugh rumbled the very pits of hell, causing a small tremor. Aubergine had to float to avoid it, but Anita remained unharmed. She continued to laugh, her shriek filling Aubergine's ears. He covered them, remaining silent, but strained. That shriek was draining his power. Inside, Blue could feel Rouge screaming, wanting to revert and run, but they couldn't. He held Rouge's hand in his own, though they were simply ghostly forms of themselves in Aubergine's mind. Anita's laugh started to die down, and then it finally stopped altogether. Aubergine let his hands fall.

"I don't need to touch that machine, you fool," she replied, her own voice becoming distorted and warped, "In less than three hours, that machine will activate, awakening my clones and pouring gallons upon gallons of toxicated radiation into the air around Manhattan. The weight of the radiation will seep into the ground, into our drinking water, into our crops, until everything becomes infected. Life will become hell… and then my clones will carry my plans through their cloned mind."

"You're sick!" Aubergine cried, as Rouge had taken over, "You're the sickest creature to walk the planet!" Blue couldn't calm Rouge down as he drew the Goddess sword and lunged at Anita. It blazed in an angry flare, and the hit connected. Rouge, or rather, Aubergine, sliced right across Anita, then rebounded and reversed, cutting upwards. Everywhere the sword slashed, the wound inflicted blazed with holy fire. Anita began to scream, and yet her screams were blocked out completely. Aubergine landed on the ground after creating a series of complicated markings with his sword, all of them blazing angrily against Anita's skin. Being ripped apart by the fire, Anita let out one last long, heart-breaking scream, and burst into a fiery cascade. Hidden rock crumbled apart and tiny shrapnel of cooled, hardened lava flew everywhere threateningly. And yet nothing hit Aubergine as he landed. As his aura faded, he closed his eyes, reverting back into the pair of twins from before. Rouge laid on the ground, presumably asleep. But Blue knelt on the ground. He looked up, and around at the empty crater that was hell. Nothing was there, save for Rouge.

"…it's… it's over," Blue whispered, "We… won." Exhausted, he let himself fall onto the cold ground.

"We've… saved… the world… at least from her…"

-----------------------------(End chapter)

Finally! Anita Campbell is killed and her plans for world domination are put to rest! But, Blue and Rouge aren't done yet. They still need to put an end to the machine that Anita mentioned. And, with Red in danger, CIC is still swarming with monsters left from Anita's terrible conspiracy. Can the exhausted pair wake up and continue on with their mission? And will Fuse show up? Find out the answer next chapter, so click that Review button!


	14. Second Mission: A failed Success

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

As Red kept running frantically up the stairs towards the elevators, he could hear a surprisingly large amount of shuffling behind him, as though whatever was chasing him was becoming hesitant. As he reached the last step, the shuffling stopped altogether, and although Red was pretty sure he didn't want to know why, he forced himself to turn around anyway. No monster was left in the lobby, and all of the dark fog that had begun to settle in was slowly dissipating. And yet the radiation from the crystals still glowed dully, alerting Red that Anita still might be around. He blinked in confusion.

"Where did they all go?" he asked, though he didn't expect any reply. He jumped when Alkaiser, though weakened and exhausted, spoke.

'_They just disappeared…_' Alkaiser whispered, just as mystified, '_Do you think our friends finished Anita off?_' Red looked up towards the ceiling, as though he expected Blue and Rouge to come crashing down, but they didn't. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Blue was in pretty bad shape. You think Rouge could've won single-handed?" Red speculated, and then sighed, "I'm tempted to go back to the roof and see." Frustrated, Red sat on the stair as Alkaiser looked over the banister with grim resolution.

'_Even if you did, there's still the matter of dealing with Fuse,_' Alkaiser reminded the boy, crossing his arms, '_He might think we pulled a prank if we don't show up._' Red groaned miserably. Police were so complicated to him, if not a bit faulty at best. Still, Alkaiser had a point, and Red knew that. But his friends…

"This day sucks," Red finally said crossly, and then turned to look at Alkaiser, who had an eyebrow perked with amusement at Red's outburst, "What happened to you back there, anyway? You didn't even answer when I called you." Alkaiser bit his lower lip hesitantly, and then pointed up toward the ceiling.

'_There was a huge power flux coming from somewhere that temporarily drained my powers too quickly,_' Alkaiser replied regretfully, '_It must've been Anita, because it smelled strongly of thick radical waves and splicing rays. But those energies can shut down a superhuman within seconds. It's like kryptonite, but much more dangerous._' Red snorted, and then laughed hysterically at the comparison. That made him seem like more of a comic book character than an actual person.

"You mean like Superman?" Red laughed, and Alkaiser's face went slightly red.

'_I'm being serious here, Red,_' he said sternly, and Red suddenly found himself stiffening up at the tone, '_Whatever Anita's been playing with, if it's dangerous to me, it could've… and should've killed you. I'd love to know what it was, and I think you should be thankful either of us lived through that._' Red felt guilty at laughing at his other self, but the comparison seemed like such a joke. And yet Alkaiser's face was so hard. Red knew Alkaiser spoke the truth. He sighed again.

"Why didn't I feel it?" he asked, throwing his arms up, "If it's so dangerous, shouldn't I have smelled anything?"

'_Humans aren't as energetically clear as heroes are. Things like that can go unnoticed for days before you get even the slightest hint of infection,_' Alkaiser replied, dusting his helmet off, '_Why do you think cancer is so dangerous? It originated from radiation that enters a human body._' Red nodded, as he already knew that from high school. At least, the part about cancer. But it didn't comfort him at all, as he sat in the dark lobby. Aside from Alkaiser, everything was so silent. It was making him very nervous.

"You think Blue and Rouge are okay?" Red asked, "They were up there, and Anita's probably spewed tons of radical particles on them." Alkaiser thought about that carefully, then nodded reassuringly.

'_They're fine,_' Alkaiser told him, smiling, '_We established that the radiation can only reach so far into the skies before it's rendered completely ineffective to a human's cells. Whatever Anita used, it probably couldn't have done much unless she contaminated herself. And I highly doubt she'd have done that._' Red nodded, but even with Alkaiser's reassurance, he still had a concerned feeling inside of him. He still didn't know what happened to the monsters, or to the fog. And people outside still might have been suffering. As these thoughts rolled through him, Red almost ignored the phone near the elevator that was ringing. Alkaiser alerted him to it, and he picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked, hoping that it wasn't anything dangerous. To his surprise, it was Blue, "Blue!? Are you all right!?"

"We're fine," Blue said, though he sounded exhausted, and his voice was dry, "Anita's dead." Red's eyes bugged at hearing this. They actually won! Red quickly relayed that to Alkaiser through his mind before speaking to Blue again.

"Really!? That's awesome, dude!" Red exclaimed, giving Alkaiser the thumbs-up, which was promptly returned, "We were ambushed by some monsters, but they just disappeared. I'm guessing they were friends of hers?" He heard Blue cough, but Blue continued on anyway.

"Yeah. But we have another problem, Red," Blue coughed, and Red could hear Rouge hacking behind Blue. Were they sick? Red certainly hoped not.

"What's the problem?" Red asked, a very perplexed look on his face. Blue was grim, and that was never a good thing.

"Anita has a machine somewhere in the building, but it's set to go off soon," Blue replied, patting Rouge to help him stop coughing, "She programmed it, and it contains DNA clones of her. She was going to contaminate Manhattan and then set off her clones to kill whoever survived. Then she was going to spread her disease everywhere. We have to find that machine." Alkaiser swore angrily, and Red nearly dropped the phone in shock.

"Are you telling me that killing Anita did absolutely nothing!?" Red cried, exasperated, "How much time do we have until that thing blows?" Blue checked a giant clock tower in the far distance.

"Less than an hour now," Blue replied grimly, "Rouge and I will come down and start searching the upper floors, but you need to help us. You have to look in the lower floors." Red's expression was controlled worry, as he had two problems now. Alkaiser also looked flustered.

"Uh… Blue, there's a problem with that plan," Red stated, "See, we called Fuse because we found one of Anita's casualties, and he told us to meet him outside." Blue was silent, and it was Rouge that made Red jump in shock.

"_WHAT!?_" Rouge yelled through the phone, snatching it from his brother, "You called _Fuse!?_ Why would you do that!? That idiot can't do anything right!" Blue snickered quietly, as Rouge did have a pretty accurate point. Fuse only seemed to make their missions much harder than they had to be. Red, however, took offense.

"I was just trying to help!" Red screamed back, as both Alkaiser and Blue watched on with annoyed looks and drops of sweat rolling down their heads, "It's not like we _couldn't_ use the back-up!"

"That's not the point!" Rouge yelled, and Blue finally snapped. He grabbed the phone, and in a voice that sounded no less than thunder, he broke the fight up immediately.

"_ENOUGH, CHILDREN!_" Blue roared angrily, and Red was pretty sure that if he didn't pee himself, Rouge certainly had, "Can we get back to the problem at hand? Red, you go and wait for Fuse. Brief him in on what's happened so far, and tell him we sent you. As for Rouge and I, we're going to start our search and shut down the machine."

"No problem, Blue," Red replied, giving a thumbs-up even though Blue couldn't see it, "We'll help as soon as we can."

"Don't screw this up, Red," Rouge called from the background. Red mumbled as the phone clicked off, and hung up. He went to run down the stairs, causing Alkaiser to stare in a mix of surprise and wonderment. Alkaiser tilted his head.

'_What's going on? Is everything okay?_' Alkaiser asked, following Red. Red ran to the front entrance, and pushed the bolted glass doors open before answering. He let the cool breeze from outside rush against his face, before he remembered that it was still tainted. He turned to Alkaiser.

"Yeah. Blue and Rouge have to look for the machine Anita left. It's sort of like a time bomb, so they need our help," Red explained, walking out the door and through the parking lot, "But we have to meet Fuse, so we'll fill him in when we can. Maybe he can help us, too." Alkaiser didn't say anything, but he didn't object either. Red took that as approval and then turned his attention to the lot, which was thoroughly destroyed. The two guards were already dead, as were the janitor and doctor that Rouge had pickpocketed from before. Cars had begun to rust, and judging off the smell alone, many people must've died. The smell of rot was strong. Red wanted to choke.

"Aww man! Fuse had better be here!" Red coughed, covering his mouth. Alkaiser still remained silent, though Red could see he was developing a green glow. The radiation must've been making him sick as well. Red looked around, and saw a police car speeding into the lot. After a sloppy turn and a crash into a pole, the car came to an abrupt stop. Red watched in complete amazement as the hood popped open, and smoke billowed out. Fuse came out, cursing and screaming, and promptly kicked one of the front tires. That only resulted in another heavy scream, as he damaged his foot. A drop of sweat rolled down Red's head, as this certainly wasn't what he thought back-up should be like.

"I'm… going to assume you're Fuse," Red said blandly, and Fuse stopped screaming just long enough to turn around.

"Yeah!? And who wants to know!?" Fuse snapped, as the tire popped off and rolled out of the lot, "Look, kid, I'm here on a mission. I don't have time for prattling like yours." Red twitched and scowled, offended by Fuse's rude remark and how terrible he was at driving.

"I know. I'm the one who called you," Red replied shortly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Look, your friends Blue and Rouge sent me. We found out why the Cygnus was getting attacked." Fuse stopped frowning and his expression softened a bit. He hadn't heard from either of his colleagues in a while, now that he thought about it.

"Really? Well, why?" Fuse asked, taking out a cigarette and lighting it, "And why're you all in Manhattan?" Red sighed, as this would take a while to spell the whole situation out. So, he decided to summarize it.

"Well, the short version? Anita Campbell was behind it. She was bribing my boss, and when he didn't get it to her fast enough, she ordered an attack on the Cygnus. The cargo was actually tainted metal alloy," Red explained, and beckoned for Fuse to follow him, "When we found the records in my boss's office, it led us to Manhattan, because it mentioned CIC as one of their customers that ordered the metal. Anita's trying to pull something lethal off, though, so Blue and Rouge are dispatching her right now. I'm telling you, she wasn't human." Fuse glanced at him, skeptical.

"Not human?" Fuse asked, though he sort of believed Red. Red nodded.

"She injected herself with radiation, I guess. I'm not sure, but she attacked us, and she looked like a huge spider," Red replied, and then turned to Fuse, grabbing his arm, "Look, man, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth. Everyone's dying because of her. Blue asked me to tell you. He needs help finding something. He said Anita's using a machine to pump the air full of the radiation coming from the alloy." Fuse bit his lower lip, hesitant to reply. Red was sure he didn't believe a word of his story, until he answered.

"We were monitoring her activities for a while," Fuse said, "We did find it odd that she'd order such a large amount of metal, especially when most medical equipment these days are made of plastic. Not to mention the huge increase in sick patients."

"So you actually believe me!?" Red asked, actually surprised with this. Fuse nodded.

"I trust Blue. It sounds like we need to hurry," Fuse answered, as he kicked down the front doors, "Where did he say to look?"

"He said that he's checking the upper floors with Rouge. We should look on the lower ones, most probably," Red replied, as they ran in. Fuse immediately took out his blaster and loaded it as Red looked for a suitable melee weapon of his own. He grabbed a broken piece of wood.

"It looks like there's been a heavy attack. If Anita had any accomplices, any security measures, they might still be around," Fuse stated, looking around and then up a stairwell, "Move out!" Then, they rushed through the doorway toward the side and up a flight of broken, creaking stairs.

---

"Rouge, come on. She's dead, and no spell is going to do anything to her," Blue moaned with frustration as he kept the roof door open. Rouge, who was looking over Anita's dead, crushed body, snapped his fingers and ran to his twin.

"Darn. I think we went a little on overkill. All these stab wounds. She only needed the one," Rouge commented, as he walked into the building. Blue followed, but before that, he let go of a rope he'd been holding onto. They had tied Anita's legs to one of the large stone blockades each, and then threw them off the side. The only thing that had kept her up was a thick rope, until Blue dropped it. Her body vanished beyond the edge of the roof, and both brothers heard a massive splat before continuing on.

"As long as we killed her for good, nothing is overkill," Blue stated, as they ran down the steps, "After all, you're the one who took over and slashed her to bits."

"Even so, I was sort of hoping I could revive her and bring her under our command," Rouge replied casually, and Blue gave him an odd look, "Oh, think about it! Think of the ass-kicking we could do!" Blue, however, wasn't amused.

"Need I remind you that she almost killed us, and everyone in Manhattan?" Blue asked, perking an interested, if not slightly annoyed, brow, "She was about to enslave the world." Rouge thought about this, and Blue was sure he'd won the argument until a grin crept along Rouge's face.

"She could tell us about the machine!" Rouge exclaimed, obviously feeling he was the victor, "Ah, man! Think of the money! The moolah! The dinero! Even if we only had a penny for every dollar she owned, we'd still have money falling out of our butts!" Blue's lips tightened, and a streak of blue edged across his cheeks.

"Even under brain control, she won't help us," Blue said bluntly, "Rouge, just drop it. We have bigger fish to fry besides the "what ifs" of life. You need to focus."

"But Blue, what about…"

"_NO!_" Blue yelled forcefully, turning around and hitting Rouge with his index finger in a scold, "Rouge, just no. Not only is it a poor theory, but necromancy is a dangerous art! You can barely deal with the basic classes and properties of magic, and you're going to try one of the most forbidden acts in magic and the arcane? Are you mad?" Rouge frowned at hearing Blue's strong disapproval, but he also understood. Even the masters back at the Magic Kingdom feared necromancy, and they usually hunted or jailed all those associated with it. He sighed.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it," Rouge said, "It's not like I'm going to be great at magic like you, and no one's ever done necromancy for nearly 1000 years. Aren't you a little curious yourself, bro?" Now Blue sighed, feeling very frustrated at how their search was starting. He shook his head, though it was more to clear his thoughts than for an answer.

"Maybe, but it's dangerous even for me," Blue replied gently, "Look, Rouge, maybe if it weren't so morally corrupt, I'd consider trying it. But the point is, it's wrong. It's wrong to animate the dead and force their souls to help us. Magicians with weak will who've attempted this died, and some of them were of the highest classes you can reach." Rouge bit his lower lip, knowing Blue spoke the truth. He always heard the tales, but it just sounded so interesting. But one final glance back at the rooftop door told him not to try it, so instead he waited for Blue to open up a locked door. Blue, having no luck with his blaster, threw an Energy Chain and blew the door apart. Using their arms to shield themselves from the tiny shrapnel flying about from the small explosion, they both ran inside. What they expected was to be in a hallway, but instead, they were greeted with a large conference room. Unsurprisingly, it was empty.

"Think this is her office?" Rouge asked, as he walked over and patted one of the chairs. It was solid oak, and the cushioning was made of durable, comfortable red polyester, though the seat cushioning itself was either silk or velvet. On the wall, behind the large chair that could only have been for the head executive here, was a large monitor. It was static.

"We're probably close to it, but this looks like a meeting room," Blue replied, walking over to the monitor, "I wonder if this'll tell us anything. What are the chances that she shared her plans with a few close co-workers?" Rouge, who'd taken to actually lounging in one of the seats, shrugged.

"Who knows? If she injected them with the radiation to mutate them, then they probably know about it. But she didn't say anything about that," Rouge replied, watching Blue intently, "Chances are she probably killed everyone up here rather than take the time to immunize anyone under her. Less of a chance of rebellion." As Blue tinkered with the monitor's controls, he looked back at Rouge and smiled. That made a lot of sense, and to hear Rouge actually reason as he would made Blue proud. Rouge gave him the thumbs-up as acknowledgement.

"Good thinking, Rouge," Blue stated, and then the monitor flickered and the room came into view, "Ah, it's working. It looks like it was playing a security tape, though. Should I press play?"

"I don't see why not. It'd prove if I was right in her murdering everyone," Rouge replied, waving his hand airily, "At least with the few executives up here. That'd probably help Fuse believe our story." Blue nodded, and hit the play button. The tape continued, and for a minute, the monitor was dead silent. Then a scream was heard, and a female executive ran across the room as Anita chased after her. They ran off-screen, and another scream was heard, followed by maniacal laughter. Rouge blinked, and Blue flinched. The woman was killed, and Anita had done it. But something else was happening, something neither twin could hear, but they knew Anita was still in the room.

"What's she doing!?" Rouge asked, glancing at Blue. But the look on Blue's face told Rouge he had no idea either. Blue turned off the monitor, as they saw all they needed to see. Anita had murdered someone, and chances are that was the woman Red had found. Rouge got out of the chair, shivering. He hated to see someone die.

"I think we both have seen enough," Blue said, patting Rouge on the back. Rouge nodded, and watched as Blue glanced around the room, noticing a black door in the back. The two brothers walked over to it, and Rouge turned the knob. It was locked. Cautiously, Blue leaned against it, pressing his ear as close as he could to it. Nothing but silence greeted him.

"Anything inside?" Rouge whispered, and Blue shook his head.

"It's dead quiet in there," Blue replied, "…Wait. I can faintly hear something. It sounds like… ticking of some sort." Rouge tilted his head, trying to figure out what could be ticking. Blue was also perplexed, until he remembered what Anita had said and realized it could only be one thing as he said, "Rouge, stand back! I'm blowing the door apart!" Rouge, though wide-eyed, obeyed without question and ran back as Blue prepared not only an Energy Chain, but combined it with Implosion as well. The door instantly flew apart in tiny pieces, allowing access inside. The twins rushed in, to be greeted with a spacious suite of an office. It was so much more than that, as they soon saw. A large, comfortable bed rested to one side of the room, and a desk with a large, dark chair greeted them instantly. Compared to the rest of the building, this made them feel almost at home. But the ticking continued, and it worried Blue.

"Does she live here!?" Rouge asked, picking up a magazine. He didn't read it, but instead looked at a bookcase to the side. It was crammed full of books, though their contents were something Rouge didn't care for. He ignored them, and looked out the large window behind the desk. It overlooked a suburban part of Manhattan, which now looked grey and foreboding. He knew that the disease was still spreading, and he could see Blue searching for something.

"What're you looking for, bro?" Rouge asked interested, as Blue picked up a box and threw it, and it landed with a heavy thud. At first, Blue didn't answer. He heaved another box across the room, and it slammed open, throwing shoes everywhere. Whatever he was looking for, he must've felt he was near it. When Rouge asked the question again, Blue sighed and wiped his forehead.

"The ticking is louder over here," Blue replied, kicking another box full of shoes away, "But there's nothing here! Is it in one of the boxes!?" Rouge looked back over to the boxes Blue had pretty much destroyed just minutes ago. The contents of all three were strewn about the room carelessly, and most of it consisted of shoes. The rest were fancy jewelry or clothing, and nothing smelled of magic. Rouge shook his head.

"Maybe you're hearing an alarm clock," Rouge suggested, but he also knew that wasn't true. Blue sighed, and then looked under the bed. But nothing was there, not even a dust bunny. The room just seemed too perfect, too innocent. Rouge was ready to give up and look elsewhere until he accidentally stepped on something, and a small click was heard. Blue straightened up, perking a concerned eyebrow, as he heard that click. Rouge was mildly bewildered, as a small rumbling erupted on the wall just next to the bed. A secret door appeared, and the rumbling stopped abruptly. The two twins looked at each other with a skeptical notion.

"Well, that shouldn't surprise us," Blue commented, amused.

"Who opens it?" Rouge asked. Though they were silent, both boys seemed to think Blue should risk it as he outstretched his arm until his fingers graced the door. It was smooth, possibly made of copper, and cool to the touch. But what got Blue the most was that the ticking was even louder now. Whatever the bomb was supposed to be, it was in there. It had to be! A drop of sweat rolled down Blue's cheeks, and the door slid upward, and opened to reveal a control panel, and behind it, a huge, dark room. Test tubes lined all of the walls, and it was unbearably warm. Rouge could feel the sweat trickling down his forehead, and he was farther from it than Blue was.

"This is her lab…" Blue whispered, "Those clones, and the source of the disease… it's in there."

"Let's bust it up then," Rouge said determinedly, raising his arms for a Flash Flood, but Blue stopped him.

"We can't!" Blue cried, "We have to shut it down or we could release the clones by accident! Think about it. If we burst those tubes apart, they'll crawl out, having survived the attack." Rouge scowled, and reluctantly lowered his arms. Blue had a point, but this would take too long otherwise. Still, he didn't raise his arms or prepare another spell.

"You better know what you're doing," he mumbled, as Blue set to working on the controls. Sweat poured off of him, pressured only by the fact that they had less than fifteen minutes now, and he could feel every stirring movement the clones inside the tubes made. The heat pouring off the glowing crystal inside the room didn't help at all, and Blue had to fight to resist the urge to start coughing madly. He input any command he could think, but the machine wouldn't obey. The clock ticked down to ten minutes, and Blue could feel Rouge getting restless behind him. He continued, this time typing invalid code after invalid code in an attempt to override the system's main core and corrupt the files inside. Many of the commands shut down various programs, but none of them operated the lab. Six minutes were left, and Blue was ready to give up and cry, as the computer had frozen. Five minutes, and Blue had rebooted the machine, yet it didn't affect anything inside that lab. The heat grew more forceful, and some of the glass was breaking, the clones itching to be released. Two minutes, and Rouge finally intervened.

"Let me do this," he commanded, and pulled Blue away. Blue didn't object, as his mental and physical exhaustion kicked in. Rouge looked in horror at the controls, unable to decide what should be done. With the exception of the computer in his office, he didn't know how to work machines. But he did know how to blow one up. And stopping the computer seemed to be what mattered. He knew better than to use magic, with the crystal there, so he tried the next best thing. He battered the control panel as forcefully as possible. Buttons crushed into the keyboard, and levers were broken, ripped frantically with the wires. Alarms had sounded, and yet that didn't stop Rouge. One minute remained, and he continued pounding. He ripped the monitor off the ceiling, and it crashed into the keyboard, destroying the thing for sure. And yet the clock kept ticking as it neared just thirty seconds. Sparks were flying, and the heat was uncontrollable. Rouge knew he did all he could, as he grabbed Blue. They needed to leave. It didn't matter where, but they'd be killed in the explosion if they remained. Twenty seconds, and Rouge was already bounding down the hall with Blue, as alarms blared throughout the building. Ten seconds, and Rouge made it to the stairwell, and then that fated word reached the PA.

"Self-Destruction complete," blared throughout the building, throughout Manhattan itself. Rouge heard fires crackling and explosions erupting on the upper floors, and decided to jump out the window. He glanced at Blue, who was barely conscious.

"All right, bro, this is it," Rouge said, and Blue nodded groggily, "We have to jump. Are you ready?" Blue nodded again, smiling. Rouge smiled back, and held onto Blue tightly as they both made a lunge at the window. It blew open, glass flying everywhere as the two magicians flew out. Just as they flew out, the explosions hit their floor, and they were blasted with heat and fire as they were thrown mercilessly forward. Down far below, Rouge could barely see Fuse and Red also being thrown out the windows, but that didn't matter to him. All he cared about was living through this and making sure Blue would live as well. And yet the town was rushed right under them as they kept flying, the grey becoming a soft green, and the ground coming closer and closer, slowly, but surely. Rouge closed his eyes, as he was sure Blue was unconscious. All he could do was wait for the crash landing to come.

-----------------------------(End chapter)

And so, it looks like another mission is completed. But has it ended in disaster? Will our beloved twins die a tragic death? What about Fuse, and Red? And the lab, was it truly destroyed? Find out the answers next chapter, so click that Review button!


	15. Second Mission: Closed and Completed

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

"Where the hell are we going!?" Rouge could hear a voice far below him as he sailed through the countryside, trying to keep Blue from falling into the grassy abyss below. He recognized the voice, he knew, but he couldn't place who it was. His mind was still swimming from the explosion. They'd definitely destroyed the bomb, but did they do it correctly? Part of him wondered if Manhattan was all right. The disease hadn't dissipated when they'd flown straight through, and he couldn't be sure if the clones had died, either. And as he looked down, he became steadily aware that they were coming closer and closer to the ground. Two screams erupted below, and now Rouge knew that Red and Fuse had landed. Any minute, he'd be doing the same. He closed his eyes, looking for any spell that could slow their fall. He'd found just one, but it was too late. He felt the impact of his fall in the next instance, and soon found that he couldn't open his eyes.

What felt like hours later, Rouge had finally woken up, and was scrabbling to get to his feet. He opened his eyes wide, looking at his new surroundings. He saw that they'd landed in very soft grass, and that trees dotted the plains here and there. Patches of heather grew in sporadic formations, and he felt the ground was soft. It must've rained recently, as he could also smell fresh earth. To his right, he could see Blue lying on the ground. His eyes were shut, but he looked relatively unharmed. Rouge crawled over to him.

"Blue, are you all right?" he asked, shaking Blue gently to try and wake him up, "Come on, buddy. You have to get up!" Blue stirred, and Rouge heard him mumble something. Rouge kept encouraging him to wake up, and finally Blue opened his eyes.

"Where are we?" he croaked, his voice dry from the heat of the explosion, "Rouge, what happened?" Rouge could hear that he was alarmed, and somehow, it frightened Rouge. He shook his head gently, trying to answer his frantic twin.

"Blue, it's all right. We're out of Manhattan," Rouge said comfortingly, "We destroyed the machine, I think." Blue nodded slowly, at first unable to really recollect the past day or so. That again worried Rouge, who wondered if Blue might have suffered any permanent brain damage. But when Blue spoke again, Rouge knew he was slowly coming back.

"Oh Goddess, the bomb!" Blue exclaimed, sitting up quickly, "Rouge, did we destroy the clones? And the crystal!? Please, tell me we did!" Rouge jumped back, surprised by the tone of urgency in Blue, and regretting that he couldn't answer. He didn't see anything inside that suite, had no way of knowing for sure. Blue looked at him for a long moment, panic sprouting in those eyes.

"Blue, I don't know," Rouge finally said calmly, but firmly, "I dragged us out before the explosion could kill us. I'm sure they're all dead and the crystal's destroyed, but I don't know." Blue blinked, slowly taking Rouge's answer in. Then he looked down at his own hands. They were bruised, no doubt from crashing through a window, but Blue didn't remember leaving the building. The last thing he remembered was Rouge slamming the machine, trying to blow it to pieces, and then his mind seemed to slow down from there, as though he might have begun passing out during the end.

"We have to go back," Blue said sternly, and Rouge looked at him like he might've been crazy. Rouge shook his head quickly.

"We're not going back there, bro," Rouge replied, just as stern, "You're in no condition to be going into what might be a pile of smoldering ash. We need to get you to a doctor."

"There's a clinic in Manhattan," Blue said simply. Rouge raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his hip.

"Uh, Blue? You know who ran said clinic, right?" Rouge asked, and for a minute, Blue had to think carefully for the answer. But when it came, he just started laughing. Anita had run the clinic, and there was no doubt that it'd been destroyed in the fire.

"Oh, right…" Blue said quietly, amused with himself, "Well, I want to know that everyone will be all right." Rouge rolled his eyes, unable to believe how careless Blue was being. But he also understood how Blue felt. He also wanted to make sure someone had survived. But that had to wait.

"Let's at least rest before we start heading back," Rouge suggested, though he didn't want to know how long he'd been unconscious, "I know I'm not up to hiking back a few miles, and I know you can't possibly be in shape for that either." Blue chuckled, and nodded. Rouge was right. He didn't feel up to walking just yet. He looked back down at his hands, and then at Rouge's. Rouge's hands were bleeding a little, no doubt from punching the machine and then flying through glass.

"We should probably wrap those up, you know," Blue stated, indicating Rouge's bloody knuckles. Rouge looked down at them, and laughed, slightly shocked that he hadn't noticed them before. He rubbed the blood off on his pants, twitching as the motion stung a little.

"That's a good idea," he agreed, "But where do we find some bandages? We're in the middle of scenic nowhere, and chances are there's none lying around." Almost to try and contradict himself, Rouge looked around to see if maybe there were supply crates anywhere near them. Unfortunately, there weren't. Blue sighed heavily, obviously trying to think of something to help them. He looked around as well, and then an idea hit him. He took out the ribbon in his hair, and asked Rouge to walk over and hold out his hands.

"What're you doing, bro?" Rouge asked, as he obeyed. Blue smiled and began wrapping Rouge's hand with one half of the bandage, snapping the second off and wrapping the other hand. When he was done, Rouge examined them, grinning. The wrap was strong, firm, and very secure. And the ribbon was silk, very soft. It felt cool against his skin.

"Thanks, bro," Rouge smiled, nodding admiringly at his bandages. Blue smiled back, and struggled to stand. His legs were weak, one of them had been sprained, and he had trouble keeping balanced. But eventually, he could stand.

"So, do you think Fuse and Red survived?" Blue asked after a long silence. Rouge, who'd decided to lay on the ground and watch the clouds, looked at his twin groggily. He nodded slightly.

"I heard them screaming a little ways away, but they should be all right," Rouge answered simply, shrugging, "As long as they aren't stupid enough to try and go back, they'll be fine." Blue looked a bit frustrated, as he knew that Fuse would probably insist on doing a round of checking on anything. And Red, unfortunately, would have to help just because he'd be nearby. Blue imagined Red complaining about some miniscule annoyance, and Fuse telling him how lucky he has things. Then, he could see them arguing, possibly physically fighting each other. And it was amusing.

"With Fuse, you never know what he'll order," Blue sighed, in that tired but amused way of his. Rouge laughed heartily, and nodded, laying right back down on the soft ground.

"For all we know, the doofus might be trying to make a crude patchwork replica of a plane just to do an aerial search," Rouge snickered, adding to Blue's imagination, "I can see it crashing five yards later. He'd go insane!" Blue wrinkled his nose as he thought about that, and decided that it would indeed happen.

"Perhaps we should look for them, then," Blue suggested, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms, "We don't want an unnecessary mishap, do we?" Rouge glanced back at Blue, raising a brow that said, "Yeah, I would." Blue laughed again. He watched Rouge close his eyes and start to doze off, and smiled weakly. He had nothing to do, and he didn't trust his health to be wandering alone in an area he knew nothing about. He was about to sit when a rustle caught his attention. Quietly, he asked, "Who's there?"

There was no reply. Blue tilted his head and raised his eyebrow. He took out a small knife silently and stepped forward. "Who's there!?" he asked again, more forcefully. Again, there was no reply save for another rustle. Blue blinked, and silently stalked to the crowded grove it was coming from, skillfully raising his weapon higher above his head. A large shrub moved, and Blue lunged, screaming at the top of his lungs. He tackled the shrub and landed on Red, who was screaming in terror. The sound woke Rouge up, and he saw Fuse backing out of the bush.

"What the hell is happening?" he asked, though he was still half asleep. Fuse looked absolutely panicked.

"We have a situation, soldier! Your brother has gone insane!" Fuse cried, taking out his blaster, "He must've been infected somehow!" Rouge looked perplexed, and practically jumped up, running to the shrub. He parted it, and saw both Blue and Red lying in a heap on the ground. Blue looked up at his twin.

"I thought he was a monster somehow," Blue said, getting up, "I thought they were going to attack us." A drop of sweat rolled down Rouge's head, especially when he heard Fuse behind him, aiming the blaster at Blue. Sighing, Rouge extended a hand and helped his twin up, simultaneously knocking Fuse to the ground.

"Ow! What was that for, soldier?" Fuse asked, as his blaster skidded along the dirt. He rubbed his head and mumbled something as he picked himself up out of the dirt. Red coughed, and stood up as well, dusting whatever muck he'd managed to get on himself when Blue had tackled him.

"That was for trying to faze my brother," Rouge replied, annoyed. He led Blue to a sturdy log and let him sit down, and then leaned against a tree next to him. Red and Fuse both looked at him expectantly. And yet he remained silent.

"So, what happened back there?" Red asked finally, when no one spoke for well over ten minutes, "Alkaiser and I were getting worried." Rouge bit his lip and looked to Blue, who shrugged. Blue was pretty much unconscious for most of the battle, so it was up to, unfortunately, Rouge to explain the situation.

"We found the bomb Anita told us about. And we found the crystal that was pumping out all of the radiation and the disease," Rouge started, "She was hiding it in a secret room in her suite. The problem was, we didn't know how to shut it down, so I started to just pound the damn machine until it broke." Rouge glanced at Blue, who seemed determined to hear what had actually happened. Blue's lips tightened, and Rouge continued.

"But by even attempting to shut down the machine, the alarms went off. And I must've triggered some sort of DOA command, because it wasn't supposed to explode. It was supposed to release whatever Anita had inside," Rouge finished, skipping the part about the clones, "That's when we were all thrown out of Manhattan the way we were." Fuse had crossed his arms, and now he closed his eyes. Something was going on in his mind.

"So what you're saying is, Manhattan could be a pile of smoldering garbage now," Fuse asked, though it came out more as a conclusion. Rouge nodded slowly.

"Blue and I were about to head back there after we took a breather," Rouge replied, patting Blue on the shoulder, "You know, to do damage control." Fuse opened one eye, peering at Rouge skeptically. Then he shook his head, making Rouge very confused.

"I don't think that's happening right now," Fuse stated grimly, "If what happened was a result of a bomb, absolutely no one should go in there until it's dissipated. It's a public health hazard, boys."

"But we have to close this mission out!" Blue cried, exasperated, as he suddenly stood up from the log, "Even with Anita dead, whatever else she had inside that bomb might become a huge threat!" Rouge glared warningly at Blue, and he realized at once his mistake. Fuse and Red looked at him with high alert. Even Alkaiser, in his spiritual form, stood next to Red in sudden alarm.

"What do you mean 'whatever else she had?" Red asked, his question coming out more harshly than he actually intended, "Are you saying there's more to her plan than poison?" Blue looked back at Rouge, who closed his eyes and turned his head to indicate that he wasn't going to help explain what Blue had let slip. Blue looked down, then turned back to Red and nodded.

"She was implanting her DNA into fragments and combining them to create clones of herself. In her monstrous form, of course, but clones nonetheless," Blue explained slowly, and he noticed that he sounded distant, "She said they can handle battle well, and she said they can function even if she's dead. We have to go back and make sure that there's nothing there, or those clones might continue with her ruthless campaign." Red looked at Alkaiser, who nodded as if to tell him that was Blue said was true. Rouge looked toward the horizon, where they could see wafts of smoke. Fuse, however, was stern. He seemed to be juggling the decision.

"I say we go, then," Red said, "Those clones sound like bad news, so we have to make sure we get them wiped out." Fuse remained hard, and looked at Blue sharply.

"Are you honestly saying you believe those clones may have survived?" Fuse asked, "Nothing can survive a nuclear explosion that close by. Is this something you have to do?" Blue nodded with just as much firmness.

"Yes. We can't take the risk of not checking," Blue replied, still slightly exasperated, "If they survived, life will quickly become misery, Fuse. Maybe not where we are, but in Manhattan, it'll be a living hell. And who's to say it'd stop there?" Everyone looked at Blue intently as he spoke, noticing that a cold sweat was building as Blue relayed everything he could remember. Rouge shifted uncomfortably, as Blue was right. Anita wouldn't have her clones stop at just one city.

"All right, calm down," Fuse said firmly, taking out a small, mostly undamaged radio, "I'll ring the station and tell them we might need some back-up. We at least need a quick escape route." Blue smiled, and Rouge's eyes widened with happiness.

"You mean we're actually going!?" Rouge exclaimed, striking a victory pose. Fuse took out a cigarette and lit it as the radio beeped, indicating that it at least found a connection line.

"Hold on, cowboy. We're not going to party on those clones' asses," Fuse warned, taking a deep puff of the cigarette, "We're just doing a report. If the base sends reinforcements, I'll think about staying around to fight, but as it stands, not one of you three looks up to killing anything." Just as Fuse finished, the line picked up on the radio, and a young lady's voice rang through. The radio was cackling from damage, but they could understand her.

"IRPO, general emergency department. Doll speaking," the girl said. Fuse took another puff of his cigarette and steadied the phone with his shoulder.

"Hey, Doll. This is Fuse," Fuse stated casually, looking back toward his three comrades, "Listen, we got a bit of a situation here. You heard of what happened in Manhattan?"

"How could I not? It's being flashed all over any news station that'd air it," Doll replied, as she typed on her computer, "We were worried none of you made it. But what's the emergency? Do you need an escape?" Fuse held his cigarette to answer before taking another puff of smoke.

"Sort of. We're heading back in to do damage control. Blue's sure something survived in that explosion and he wants it dead," Fuse explained, listening to Doll type, "So, yeah, we'll need an escape jet for when we do leave, and if you can muster some reinforcements to help us get to the bottom of this, that'd be great." Fuse waited for Doll to respond as he finally stamped out his cigarette, having lost most of the tobacco from talking. Doll hesitated as she pulled up a form of some kind.

"Unfortunately, we recently deployed several units into Shrike to investigate the Bio industries there," Doll replied slowly, regretfully, "But we do happen to have Unit 7 with us. It's a small group, though, and it'll hardly…"

"We'll take it," Fuse snatched the deal before Doll could finish, "We don't need much, just enough to help us get into the ruins of the CIC building. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" Doll sighed, and Fuse heard a confirmation noise. Obviously, Doll sent their request.

"Just be careful. The unit should be there within the hour, but they won't wait for you, Fuse," Doll replied seriously, "The boss doesn't want to have any more casualties from your carelessness, so she's probably going to make them take their own call." Fuse swore angrily, making Blue jump back in shock.

"Damn, they just don't forgive me. It's not my fault those soldiers didn't listen to my command," Fuse growled, and then sighed heavily, "All right. You're doing all you can, Doll. Thanks." Doll chuckled from the other line.

"No problem, Fuse. We've been working together for nearly five years. I've got your back," Doll replied, smiling, "And don't worry about the past. The boss knows, but we still need to be careful. And your way of handling your men is careless, you need to admit it. Anyway, I need to sort something out, so I'll need to go. Keep in touch, though." Doll clicked her radio off, and Fuse was soon greeted with a busy signal. Sighing again, he hung up his radio as well, placing it back in his pocket. Then he stood up, loading his blaster and then sheathing it.

"We're leaving now?" Red asked, scratching his back lazily. Fuse looked at him for a second, and nodded. Rouge helped Blue up as Fuse answered.

"We have to get there before the unit does. They won't wait for us if they get there first, and they don't know what we're looking for," Fuse explained quickly, handing Blue and Rouge his old short sticks, "Here, you boys use these until the unit arrives to give us some new blasters." Neither brother complained as they set the sticks into their empty sheaths, and as Red stretched to ready himself, the group began to move. Thankfully, the underbrush was shallow enough to not slow down their approach into what they could see was a pile of rubble among a large, semi-floating city that used to be Manhattan. The roads that spiraled around seemed to be the only things that managed to survive without some form of damage, as buildings had been reduced to individual walls or leveled completely. Even from their distance, they could see the wreck.

"Wow, she was willing to take out the whole city if her plan failed," Rouge gasped, unable to believe the sight he saw, "But what made her want to do this? What twisted her mind so brutally?" Red glanced behind him and saw Alkaiser nod knowingly. A simple flash of light indicated that Red had let the hero take over as they walked toward the smoldering heap.

"Many factors can cause a fragile mind like hers to corrupt itself," Alkaiser said quietly, taking his glowing sword in his hand, "In her case, the very death of her father is what turned an innocent woman into the blood-curdling beast you see. When her father became ill, they thought it was from an infection, when in fact, it was from exposure to tiny particles of tainted DNA."

"In other words, radiation?" Blue asked, and Alkaiser nodded, "But that doesn't make sense. Why would she inject herself with the very thing that killed her own father?"

"It's a complicated story, but Alritz the Legendary was there when Anita was once a pure, innocent girl," Alkaiser replied softly, "She used to research what form of germ could possibly infect her father with such a change in his mindset and physical form. She found out that it was radiation, but that wasn't what set her off. No, she wanted to rid the company halls of the infectious waste. It was shortly after she found the shield that she began to grow mad." Rouge and Blue glanced at each other nervously.

"The shield?" Rouge repeated, stumped.

"She found that, after a time of exposure to such harmful chemicals, your body begins to build up an immunity to radiation, if you can manage to survive," Alkaiser explained, this time his voice firmer, "She wanted to test it. So, she used vermin from the sewers as a beginning. It was innocent, until she discovered that the rodents would mutate after too much exposure. Intrigued, yet frustrated, she sent them away only to discover the truly destructive power they held. One of them killed her father simply by being too close, and in her last light of innocence, she swore to stop them."

"That was when she decided to convert herself into a mutated form. She realized she wasn't powerful enough to stop her creations in their radioactive forms, so she created a substance to allow her body to mutate itself as well through subtle injections of radiation," Alkaiser continued, his voice now growing grim, "But what she didn't realize was the mind-altering effects radiation can have. It was like a thirst for blood. She couldn't control her actions after her first injection, and she slaughtered the lab staff involved. That one killing was enough for the radiation to overthrow her own soul." Rouge covered his mouth, as Fuse flinched at the thought. Blue was the only one who wasn't particularly surprised.

"Then let's hope we took out the machine," Blue said quietly, as they stood in front of a ruined highway into the city, "If radiation can truly warp a mind that badly, think of what an army of mutated humans could do. Everyone living here would be exposed to the chemicals she's been dishing out." Alkaiser nodded, taking the lead and walking into the city's limit. The gray mist had completely evaporated, which meant that at least the diseases being spread were ceased. That comforted the small group as they walked along the road, which had been ripped to pieces. Now that they were inside the city, the damage seemed catastrophic. Bricks, large chunks of cement, and shards of glass had come down in a steady rain, and took out most of the vehicles in their path, as well as any signs or bus stops. Most of the western section of Manhattan had crumbled, falling into the ocean that it had been "floating" above, the metal supports completely melted from the explosion. But what everyone focused on was the peninsula in the very middle of the city. That was where the CIC building had once resided.

"I think it's safe to assume we did our job," Rouge stated sarcastically, though he was actually very serious. CIC was destroyed, utterly demolished. Only a few floors of the large building remained, and they were crushed underneath the large dome ceiling. Fuse's mouth dropped open at the sheer sight of the destruction, unable to believe that they all survived when it was clear that no one else had. Blue continued on, a makeshift path formed from the explosion allowing him quicker access to the peninsula.

"Hold on, you're not going up there, are you?" Fuse asked, eyes still wide with shock. Blue glanced back at him and nodded.

"Of course I am," Blue replied seriously, "That crystal is a hazard to everyone, even if there's nothing in it now. I think we should analyze it and see what it actually is. Maybe there's a way to help everyone who's been affected by that weird mist."

"Blue, I doubt anyone's still alive," Rouge retorted skeptically, arching an eyebrow, "If they did, where are they?" Blue looked down, unable to answer his brother. They could've been hiding, but the disease might've weakened them too much to run very fast. Rouge continued his stare, and Blue finally answered as best as he could.

"They could hide, but they might be dead. Either way, we should still get that crystal out of here," Blue replied sternly, "I can still feel a small pulse of power from the CIC, and I know it's that crystal." This time, Rouge looked at the ground. He could also feel the pulsing vibrations from CIC. Sighing reluctantly, Rouge followed Blue through the path of ruins. Alkaiser hovered over the piles, and Fuse ran shortly after, not wanting to be left behind. They reached the peninsula easily, as one of the highways from the supports had crashed to make a crude bridge. The dome had covered most of everything, but they didn't need to go far at all, because the crystal was lying right in the small patch of grass still swaying in the breeze. It was a dull gray, a sign of inactivity, but a small sound emanated from it. Blue picked it up. It was warm to the touch, but its pulse slowly died down.

"It was active just long enough for us to find it?" Rouge asked, and Blue nodded as he took out a bag and gently put the crystal inside. Then he put the bag back into his pocket.

"Not surprising. Crystals have a way of doing that, if they want to be found," Blue replied, "The clones are definitely dead. The crystal would've been active if they weren't." Fuse's lips tightened and he looked back toward where they came from.

"So is that it? Can we go?" he asked, though not unkindly. Blue looked at the ruined building one last time, and nodded.

"Yeah. There's nothing left to do here," Blue replied, turning to face where they'd come from as well. He squinted his eyes, as he saw some things in the distance, flying in the sky. They were coming closer, and they were fast. It took Blue a minute to see that they were planes.

"What are those things?" Rouge asked, obviously he saw them as well. Fuse took a look, and grinned confidently.

"Doll sent us some help," he replied happily, chuckling, "Though I doubt they'll be glad to know we don't really need them anymore. But it's nice to see we got an escape route." Rouge nodded, and Blue continued to watch the planes as they came closer and closer to the city. Alkaiser reverted back to Red, who watched the planes in slight confusion, having missed most of the adventure due to Alkaiser taking over. No one said anything, but Blue was glad to know that their mission had closed once and for all. Now, they just had to get back to IRPO.

"I wonder what other job we'll be sent on," Blue whispered, though it was mostly to himself, as they all silently waited for those planes to take them back.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, at least we definitely know that Anita and her clones are dead, so her plans to enslave the world won't happen. But what other mission will our lovable duo be sent to investigate next? And will Fuse join them again? What will become of Red once they get to IRPO? And will Unit 7 be upset as Fuse predicted? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	16. Yes, it's time for the THIRD MISSION!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and no matter how obscure it is, they always will.

"That's quite an adventure you had there, officer Rouge!" one of the soldiers exclaimed, impressed as Rouge calmly relayed the details, "I mean, we heard rumors that you and Blue were magicians, but… just wow! Can you really open a portal to hell?"

"We could, but I don't remember how we did," Rouge replied, sitting in a seat as Fuse instructed the pilot, "Everything's a little fuzzy to me. Blue, do you remember?" Blue, who'd taken to sitting on the windowsill and reading, looked over at Rouge, and then shook his head.

"Not really. I remember us fusing into one, but that's about it," Blue replied, frowning in disappointment, "I suppose a combination of blows to the head and the rush of power caused our short-term memory to fade." The soldier listened with deep interest, and nodded vigorously.

"Severe battles can do that to you," he agreed heartily, "But, wow! I think we're all really lucky you two are on the force. We've been after Anita for a while now, but we had no idea she linked to the Cygnus for such a terrible plan." Rouge raised a concerned brow at the amount of praise the soldier was giving them, but Blue gave a slanted smile as he continued reading.

"Trinity uses the Cygnus to ship rare material all around the world. If Anita found that out, she could order nearly anything from Trinity. They make the sturdiest metals around the world," Blue replied, flipping a page in the book, "That's probably why the radiation was conducting so quickly, to the point that no one could notice. It simply looked like an outbreak of a new virus to us." Rouge leaned on the arm of his seat, giving Blue a skeptical look.

"I still don't understand the point of hijacking the plane. We already concluded that the head man of the Cygnus was making a deal with her, so why hijack the ship?" Rouge asked, "Was it a ruse?"

"I'm going to guess that the boss decided to back out of the deal. That might explain why he wasn't too worried about an attack. He probably knew it was coming," Blue replied logically, "You have to remember, he hired people from IRPO to protect the cargo. Why hire the police just to get caught? No, I think he wanted us to link his crime with her to get her out of his hair." Rouge looked down thoughtfully. Blue had made a pretty interesting scenario, and though it was a complicated one, it wasn't the most unlikely one he's heard. He looked out the window as the ruins of Manhattan shrank in the distance, giving way to fresh grass and shrubbery.

"I just hope he decides to turn himself in," Rouge replied distantly, "He'll get a shorter sentence for bribery if your story is the right one. I mean, he's still a creep for taking a bribe, but he did try to help us catch an actual criminal." Blue nodded in agreement as Red walked over, holding a can of what smelled like beer. He sat down and popped the top off.

"What I don't like about this, is that I'm out of a job now," Red said randomly, having no idea what the twins were actually talking about, "I mean, I'm glad we stopped Anita, but I'm out of work and I know that Roufas is getting pissed with me. He's ready to evict me from the apartment." Rouge didn't know who Rufus actually was, other than a local musical sensation, but Blue patted Red on the shoulder comfortingly.

"We'll help you out, Red. Technically, it's our fault you're out of a job," Blue replied, with a mix of sincerity and guilt, "If you want, we can lend you some cash and tell Rufus what actually happened. I'm sure he'll understand. Besides, he knows about police work. I found his files on my computer. He was an undercover agent for a short time." Red nodded, and smirked.

"Until he botched up a case and was fired," he replied, amused, "Yeah, maybe he'll understand. I just know that he's getting sick of my rent being late." As if by bad luck, Red's cell phone went off. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the small LED screen. His luck worsened. It was Roufas.

"Shit!" Red screamed, flipping the phone on, "Yeah, Roufas? Wait, what!? You heard!? Dude, look, I'm sorry! I didn't know until Blue told me… oh, you know? You're serious!? Awesome! But, why? Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll be back in Koorong in a bit. I have to make a statement at IRPO first. All right. Thanks again, dude!" With that, Red hung up the phone and absently tossed it to Rouge, who caught it in slight confusion.

"What was that about?" Blue asked, though he didn't look up from his book. Red grinned, jumping up and down like an overactive child.

"Roufas heard the news! Apparently they aired the catastrophe via Trinity's satellite, and he watched the whole thing," Red said quickly, almost too quickly for Blue to follow, "He knows I was put out of a job when he heard of the hijacking, so he paid for this month's rent. He just wants me to get a job before next month, which should be pretty easy. But dude, I'm just relieved!" Blue smiled warmly, genuinely happy, and Rouge jumped out of his seat with joy for Red. But just as they were about to hop around like sugar-high schoolboys, the plane came to a screeching halt, and the sky darkened as they flew into a tunnel that Blue recognized as the quad's entrance. Rouge and Red were thrown back a few feet, and crashed into a group of soldiers that were talking.

"What the hell!?" Rouge yelled, crawling out of the dog-pile that had unwillingly formed, "Fuse, were you landing AGAIN!?" Blue snickered at the outburst, and calmly put his book down. He hadn't been affected at all by the landing, but that was mostly due to him wearing a seatbelt. Fuse ran out of the cockpit at the scream, and Blue saw that he was flustered.

"You bet, soldier! Just got an urgent message from the boss. We got ourselves another mission," Fuse explained quickly, nearly ripping the door off its hinges as he jumped out of the plane. Blue raised a quirked eyebrow and shrugged, deciding it was best to just follow him. Rouge and Red dizzily weaved their way out of the maze of shaken troops after Blue, and found him standing in the large garage, waiting.

"Eww, it smells like gas in here," Red said, a little less than stable. Blue glanced back at him, still a confused look on his face.

"Well, we _are_ in a garage. What did you expect?" Blue asked, turning his attention back to the closed door in the darkened corner. Rouge hopped off the small platform.

"I didn't expect to see you waiting here," he replied simply, standing next to Blue, "Why are you out here? How come you can't go in?"

"Fuse is getting the mission from our boss. Chances are we'll just have to head out again, so he told me to wait here," Blue explained, "I wonder what could've been so urgent, though. He sounded panicked when he left." Rouge huffed, staring hard at the door. It was warm in the garage, though that was only because the plane was still running.

"Nothing could've been as bad as Manhattan though, could it?" Rouge asked, slightly concerned, "Unless she had other labs to work in."

"I doubt that one, Rouge," Blue said simply, slightly amused, "No, this is something different. I just wish he let me go with him. I could've gotten a lot more information while he was talking to our boss." Rouge nodded, sighing heavily. He sat down on the cold, concrete ground, resting his arms on his knees.

"Maybe there's not much we need to know about," Rouge suggested, as Blue joined him, "It might not be a robber or criminal we're after. It could be an event that's already happened and we're doing clean-up job. Either way, should I bust us in? You seem like you want to go." Blue bit his lip. He did want to go and figure out what was wrong, but he was given a direct order to wait. Just as he came to a decision, Fuse rushed out again, holding papers, files, and a mug of coffee. Rouge jumped up.

"So what's going on, Fuse?" Rouge asked, as Fuse dashed up the ladder into a smaller plane, "What're we after?"

"Get in!" Fuse ordered sternly, sipping the coffee. Blue and Rouge instantly rushed up the ladder to join him, with Red bumbling behind, still very dizzy. Fuse sat down in a control seat, and gestured for Blue to sit next to him.

"So, what's wrong?" Blue asked, sitting down, "What's going on?" Fuse set the pile of papers down, and switched the ignition on. Then he looked at Blue.

"You've heard of the criminal, Joker, right?" Fuse asked, and when Blue nodded, continued, "Yeah, well, apparently he's back to his old tricks. We got a call from a woman in Koorong reporting that he assaulted her. We've only got a little while to catch him." Rouge raised a very worried eyebrow and leaned against the wall.

"What!? Why?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"The phone was cut off shortly after she started the report. All we were able to get was 'joker,' 'assault,' and 'help me' before the line was busted," Fuse replied quickly, flying out of the quad with amazing speed, "We're sure he cut the line himself, which means he knows we're coming." Rouge's eyes widened, and Red cursed angrily. Blue was shocked, but kept calm.

"Shall I put the airport on alert?" Blue asked, reaching for the radio. But Fuse shook his head and swatted the radio out of Blue's hands.

"No. Doll already did that for me," Fuse replied, "No, you just focus on helping me pilot. We're going to land fast, and I need you to open up the Emergency Landing Valve in Koorong. You see that smaller keyboard to your left?" Blue looked, and sure enough, there was a keyboard on the desk, with a small monitor, no bigger than a standard DS screen. Blue nodded and grabbed it.

"Is this a remote terminal?" he asked, and Fuse nodded.

"Yup. You need to log onto the web and locate Dr. Nusakan's terminal from there. He has the launch sequence in there somewhere. Get in and crack the codes," Fuse ordered, and right away Blue started typing furiously. Then he turned to Rouge, "And I want you to look through these files and find anything that Joker might've been doing recently. Any business, any cash exchange, anything at all. We need to monitor this man." Rouge nodded, and taking the pile toward the backseats, started skimming through them. Red whistled, not really knowing what to do.

"What do I do?" he finally asked. Fuse sighed, steering the wheel sharply.

"You can go in back and get me a doughnut and some more coffee," Fuse said sarcastically, even though he was actually serious. It'd been a while since he ate anything, and he was starving. Just to be kind, he added, "And bring a few for Blue and Rouge, too." Red nodded and stalked toward the back. The door into the small kitchen slid open when he reached it. Feeling the wall, he easily found the light switch and was greeted with a tiny kitchenette, barely big enough for two people to fit. There was a small refrigerator, two counters, a dishwasher, a coffee maker, and cabinets where plates and cups were stored. Red sighed and started filled a small pitcher with water to put into the coffee machine. When he had filled the small compartment with coffee, loaded the water in, and then set it on, he moved to the fridge. There wasn't much food in there, but he did spot a box of doughnuts. There were also hotdogs, peanut butter, and for whatever reason, whoever used the plane last decided to leave cereal and cans of soup in there as well. His expression turning to one of annoyance, Red grabbed the box of doughnuts and closed the fridge. Then he took out a mug and filled it with steaming coffee, stirring in a little sugar and adding a pinch of milk. Feeling that his coffee was perfect, he picked up the mug again, smiled, and walked back out into the main room, setting the coffee in the holder next to Fuse's arm and handing him the box of doughnuts.

"A box of doughnuts and the world's best coffee!" Red said, almost too cheerfully. Fuse perked an eyebrow, but shrugged and sipped the coffee. He approved, so Red went toward the back to where Rouge was sitting, working hard.

"Did you find anything?" Red asked, taking a piece of paper and reading it. It was a doctor's bill from five years ago. Rouge looked up and shook his head.

"No. This guy's good. He knows we have his file," Rouge stated, "There's nothing really interesting. I mean, this week he went to Can-Afford twice, but he only spent $3 the first time and $10 the next. How much can you get for $13?" Red shrugged, not knowing either, but Fuse glanced back at him.

"Not much, but we should still look into it. Anything we can bust him for immediately while we search for what's been going on is a good thing," Fuse said firmly, turning back toward the road. Rouge nodded, and set the receipt aside to save. He went back to his work, with Red helping him.

"I found an exchange with the bank," Red said, handing Rouge a piece of yellow paper, "He took out $500 three nights ago." Rouge smirked as he read the page. Though it was a small amount, it was all Joker had in his account.

"$500 is a lot of money to just stick in a wallet," Rouge commented, setting the paper with the receipt, "Sounds pretty suspicious. We'll look into that, too." Red nodded, and for a while, they worked in silence. The silence was broken when Blue finally spoke, his voice calm, but shocking from the long lapse of quiet.

"I've broken the code. The launch pad is ready, Fuse," he stated, smiling lightly. Fuse nodded, and steering with one hand, patted Blue on the back with the other.

"Good job, Blue. We'll be landing in about ten minutes, boys, so get ready," Fuse warned, "As soon as we land, we're busting out of the plane and dashing toward the city." Everyone nodded, and Fuse began to steer the plane in an almost full loop, meanwhile descending slowly. Blue began to see Koorong coming into view, and he saw the launch pad Fuse had opened. It was right in the middle of one of the dangerous alleyways that weaved through most of Koorong's outer limits. As they neared the city, the sky darkened and a steady rain began to fall. Fuse descended sharply, and in no time, they'd landed carefully on the pad. Wasting not even a second, Blue and Rouge jumped from their seats toward the door, and Rouge kicked it open. They jumped down, with Red and Fuse following close behind, and they all dashed up the slick stairs, turning a sharp corner and coming out of the alley onto the lower main street.

"Where now?" Rouge asked, looking around. Koorong was usually a busy place, but now it was dead. No one was walking around, none of the shops were open, and something felt very, very wrong with the whole scene. Blue sighed heavily, and it sounded much louder than it should have.

"Wow, this place is dead!" Red exclaimed, walking toward one of the stairs to the upper street, "Anyway, I'm going to go talk to Roufas. He might know where everyone is." Fuse nodded, and Red went up the stairs, leaving the three cops to stand in the abandoned street. Rouge sat down at a table, letting his arms rest.

"Do you think Can-Afford or the bank will be opened?" he asked, but Blue shook his head.

"No. Everything else is closed down. We could try, but I doubt there's anything there," Blue replied. Rouge sighed, letting his head flop on his arm apathetically. Everything felt very gloomy, and the only sound was the sudden static that Fuse's radio was making. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it on. It was Doll.

"Fuse, is everything okay over there? We've just received visual reports from the street cameras and everything's abandoned," she was saying through the static, "Only one place appears to be open. Are you sure you're all right?" Blue listened with silent interest at the dialogue between Fuse and Doll.

"Yeah. We just got here," Fuse replied grimly, "But we should be fine. My boys are pretty sharp, and if there's nothing here, Joker can't hide." Rouge started listening in, but it was more for lack of anything else to do. Doll seemed hesitant about something.

"All right. I'm just making sure you can do this," she finally said, "Good luck. Call me if something happens." Fuse nodded, and clicked the radio off. Rouge sat up straighter, and Blue raised an eyebrow as Fuse put his radio back in his pocket. Then he looked at them, sighing heavily.

"What's wrong?" Blue asked. Fuse looked down for a minute, and then back at Blue.

"Doll confirmed that everything's closed down, so this'll be trickier to nail him," Fuse replied, "I don't normally do this, but we need those records. So, I'm breaking into Can-Afford and getting the records. Come on." Rouge grinned and nearly jumped out of his seat, but Blue was much less enthusiastic about that plan. As the other two started up another flight of stairs leading upwards, Blue blinked, unable to properly believe what he'd just heard. Were they honestly going to break into a store? Maybe he'd heard wrong, but Blue did know that if he didn't follow, Fuse would get angry. Sighing, Blue walked up the stairs as well. Fuse and Rouge were already outside the convenience store, leaning on the door. A very thick padlock was on it.

"Think we could melt it off with your blaster?" Rouge asked, as Blue came up behind them. Fuse looked at the lock critically, and then shook his head.

"Nope. This thing's made from Platinum steel. No blaster can melt through it," Fuse replied, backing up slightly. Rouge snapped his fingers in disappointment, but he already thought of an alternative.

"Why don't Blue and I slam it off with an Energy Chain?" he suggested, grinning again, but this time, Blue intervened.

"It won't hit the lock's core because of the steel," Blue stated, crossing his arms, "The platinum will just deflect it, and we could burn ourselves." Rouge moaned miserably, throwing his arms up in that "I-give-up" way of his. Blue examined the lock closely, as Fuse looked around for a bat or crowbar. It was a really sturdy lock, one he was surprised that would be in Koorong. Not even the Baccarat vaults had locks like that, and they held far more valuables than medicine or box lunches. He began to think of just how to dismantle such a lock when his thoughts were interrupted by Fuse.

"Found it!" Fuse yelled loudly, running back from a small alley. In his hands was a metal bat, the light dancing off of its shiny exterior. For something in the trash, it was in remarkable state. "This little babe will get me in there!" Fuse exclaimed happily, and whacked hard on the lock. To his dismay, the bat snapped in two from the heavy impact, and yet the lock remained undamaged.

"So much for that…" Blue mumbled skeptically, watching with annoyance.

"Ooooh, that's not good," Rouge commented, trying not to laugh. Fuse was flustered now, and he started shaking the padlock violently, a stream of equally violent curses and threats dripping out of his mouth.

"Damn it, open up!! Break off your damn hinges, you crappy piece of platinum shit!" Fuse yelled, loudly enough for it to be carried over the upper fence to the other side of the upper street, "_YOU SUCK!_" Blue turned toward the stair when the sound of heavy footprints came, and bounding up the stairs was not only Red, but Roufas as well. His brown hair streaming behind him, and his sunglasses masking his expression, Roufas came to a stop at the horribly comedic scene, his fists clenched.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Roufas finally yelled, pulling Fuse away from the door with amazing strength, "What the hell is your problem!? Are you trying to get caught by the fuzz?" Blue raised an eyebrow, as now this would prove to get very interesting. When Fuse stopped struggling, he glared at Roufas, angered with his reference.

"I _AM_ the "fuzz," you modernized hippie," Fuse retorted angrily, causing Roufas to raise a thin, but still visible, eyebrow in amusement. He let go of Fuse's collar and crossed his arm, his amusement still clear under his glasses.

"Hippie, huh?" he asked, "If I'm a hippie, why am I wearing a gun?"

"Because you're crazy and you assaulted a cop," Fuse mumbled. Roufas blinked, but before another word could be said, Blue decided now was best for him to once again display his diplomacy.

"All right, enough," Blue said, stepping in between the two glaring men, "Before this escalates into a brawl, let's remember what we're here for. Roufas, we need to get into the store. Joker's been here and we need the records showing what he bought." Roufas's glasses fell off at the mention of Joker, and he raised a concerned brow.

"You're going after Joker!?" he exclaimed, almost in disbelief, and then whistled, "Wow. Well, that'd explain why you'd come here. Everyone else left Koorong when we heard he came back. I'm the only one who stayed. I'm not afraid of him."

"Yeah, we don't particularly care why you're here, son," Fuse said, rolling his eyes, "Can you get us in or can I arrest you for assaulting me?" Blue, Rouge, and Roufas all stared at Fuse like he was completely insane, and sweatdrops ran down each of their heads as Fuse clicked his blaster as to almost back up his question. Roufas shook his head and walked over to the lock.

"Hold your horses, Captain Nutjob," Roufas growled, pulling out a small key and inserting it into the lock. After a few turns of the key, everyone heard a loud click and the lock fell off the door and clanged loudly onto the floor. Blue flinched at the noise.

"Is it safe to walk in?" Rouge asked, when Roufas opened the door, "I mean, aren't there alarms?" Roufas glanced back and shook his head as Red rushed in.

"Nope. That lock is the store's only defense," he replied, letting Blue walk in casually, "This is, after all, Can-Afford. It's not a national bank." Fuse glared as he went in, and Rouge nodded at Roufas and walked in as well, finally followed by Roufas as he closed the door.

"The bank's where we need to go next. Looks like Joker had something to take here," Rouge said, and then looked around the store, "…whoa. This place is creepier than Furgo's Workshop." The store was unsurprisingly dark, but the many items on every shelf cast very disturbing shadows across the checkered floor as the streetlight reflected from the window shone only dimly in the store. The air was stale, meaning that the store must've been closed for a while, and the silence was even worse.

"I won't be surprised if something jumps out and attacks us," Red commented, grabbing a baseball bat from one of the display carts, "We gotta be careful." Although everyone else agreed, no one drew a weapon as Fuse cautiously made his way to the cash register. He pressed a button and it opened up, revealing no money in the drawer and only a few receipts. Fuse took them all and went through them, finally pulling just one.

"Here we go. This is from Joker's purchase," Fuse said, reading it quickly, "W-what!?" Rouge rushed over, peeking behind Fuse's shoulder.

"What's wrong!? What'd he buy?" Rouge asked excitedly, "Cyanide? Aerosol? A cannon?" Fuse looked at Rouge for a second, bopping him on the nose.

"This is a convenience store, son. They don't sell illegal substances here," Fuse replied blandly, and then grimaced, "No, he didn't buy anything suspicious. He bought a sandwich and a bottle of cough syrup, and his last receipt was simply a box of tissues." Blue tilted his head as he wrote down what Fuse listed.

"Cough syrup? Tissues?" Blue repeated, "Uh… sir, it sounds like Joker has a cold." Rouge nodded in agreement as he backed away, but Fuse didn't believe that.

"He could be making something dangerous, soldier," Fuse said, though he was completely serious. Red put down the bat and leaned on a counter, raising a perplexed brow.

"What could he make with syrup and paper?! A really sticky mess?" Red asked, laughing slightly, "Face it, Fuse. Something's wrong here, and it isn't Joker." Fuse looked down at the receipt. The signature was Joker's, but his purchase was odd.

"It could be a forgery," Roufas suggested, but Blue shook his head.

"Why would anyone forge a criminal's signature?" Blue asked, and then took the receipt, "Look, why don't we go straight to Joker and ask what's going on? It sounds like we're missing something. Fuse, did the woman state who it was that attacked her?" Fuse bit his lip and shook his head as Roufas opened the front door again.

"No. She said that she was pretty sure it was Joker, but she didn't actually see his face," Fuse replied, as they all walked out. Blue frowned, as they walked down into the lower street.

"So you assumed it was him?" Blue asked, and when Fuse nodded, he said, "Fuse, you can't do that. Judging by the receipts, he doesn't seem like he'd be out on the streets killing when he might have a cold. It might've been another criminal altogether!" Fuse flinched at being scolded, but he knew Blue had a good point.

"I guess I failed my duty, eh?" he asked, "We told the airport not to let Joker go. We never warned them about anyone else." He looked down in shame, but Blue smiled warmly.

"Not all is lost, sir," he said calmly, "He might not have left yet. Let's talk to Joker. Even if it was him, he'd be waiting for us to find him." Fuse nodded, and Rouge grinned.

"So now we just need to find him! Wonderful!" Rouge exclaimed happily, "Where does he hang out?" Roufas, who'd been trying to adjust his glasses, gestured for everyone to follow him.

"He's living in one of the sewers, last I remember," Roufas replied, "Come on. It's this way." He ran out through an alley and into the rainy streets, the group following as best they could. Once again, the chase for a criminal was on. Blue silently hoped that what he thought was correct as Roufas led them to a manhole. Once it was lifted, it was only a matter of time until they found Joker.

"Steady now. Let's lift this thing!"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, looks like Blue and Rouge are on a third mission! But, is it as simple as catching Joker, or is there something else in the mix this time? Why did Joker buy medicine when he could've spent his money differently? And why did he take so much money out of the bank? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	17. Joker's innocence and Emelia's resolve

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does.

Blue, Rouge, and Roufas heaved the heavy manhole cover off of the hole, revealing a large entrance into the Koorong sewers. Though the passage didn't lead down more than about 30 feet, they couldn't see the bottom, and the sheer darkness emitted an uncomfortable feeling. Blue looked to Roufas nervously.

"Before we jump, are you absolutely sure this is the right way to Joker?" he asked sternly. Rouge simply watched, as Red and Fuse had taken to keeping a look out, even though no one else was supposedly in Koorong at the moment. It was never bad to be safe. Roufas peered at Blue through his sunglasses.

"Any entrance is the right way," he replied simply, "Eventually, every tunnel dumps into a main, circular line with a large peninsula in the center. Joker was last seen there. Hopefully, he hasn't moved." Before Blue could respond, Roufas had already jumped down the hole, with Red and Fuse following quickly. Rouge looked at Blue, who had grown pale with dread. He knew Blue wanted nothing to do with the sewers again; their last experience with a Gigan Toad was more than enough for him.

"Hey, maybe it won't be as bad," Rouge said cheerfully, clapping his twin on the back and then falling down the hole. Blue looked down for just another minute. He _really_ didn't want to go down there, but it was his duty. Sighing, Blue plugged his nose and jumped as though he were in a swimming pool, landing in a shallow puddle of what he prayed was water. He tried to look around, but could see nothing through the darkness.

"Damn it! How are we going to get through here?" Red asked, waving his arms angrily. Roufas tried to strain his sight, but could see nothing.

"Looks like the power's been shut off around the neighborhood down here, too," Roufas replied. Fuse took out a flashlight and turned it on, and although it pierced the darkness, it wasn't strong enough to reach the walls. He tried to turn it up with a switch, but his flashlight didn't have one. Defeated, he turned it off until Rouge had an idea. He raised his hand and muttered something, and then lights swirled around everyone, granting them a temporary ability to see past the darkness. Blue smiled, and Fuse looked around in awe.

"How'd you do that, son?" he asked, raising his hand and looking at it as though it was the first time he'd seen it. Rouge smiled sheepishly.

"It's not a hard thing to do if you can manipulate the magical energies floating in the air," Rouge replied quietly, "Even though Koorong isn't stationed with any specialization classes or magical schools, there are still enough magical traces for me to splice and play with." Fuse nodded, though in actuality, he had no idea what Rouge was actually saying. Blue smirked.

"Looks like the masters taught you well," Blue stated proudly, "I thought you said you can't use magic."

"I can't use other magic outside of ours, but I _can_ manipulate outside sources," Rouge replied, "You're the bookworm, but I'm the technician." Blue nodded in agreement, and turned to Roufas.

"All right. Roufas, will you take the lead?" he asked kindly. Roufas nodded, and silently walked down a narrow tunnel. Fuse took the time to look around their surroundings, as the path was straight for quite a ways away. The sewers were surprisingly clean, though a lot of the floor was replaced with wiring cables and they were suspended over the aqueducts that took water out of the city. The water was too dark to see the bottom of the sewers, and Fuse hoped they didn't fall in or that the cables didn't give out. For a while, they walked in silence as Roufas picked out where they needed to go; the only sound being made was water dripping off of the ceiling. When they reached a larger tunnel was when Rouge broke the silence.

"Whoa!" Rouge yelled, shielding his eyes, "That's bright!" Blue looked up cautiously to find that a large neon sign belonging to a club called "Nightingales" was hanging above a narrower tunnel, illuminating most of the large tunnel. Now that Fuse could see, he saw that the water was actually a murky green. He made a disgusted face.

"And sickening. Boys, don't look down below," Fuse warned, but being the curious person he was, Red looked anyway. And jumped, shaking the cables as he did so.

"That's _nasty!_" Red shrieked, as Rouge tripped on one of the shaking wires, "No wonder it smells like crap in here!"

"So you mean this being a sewer _didn't_ tip you off?" Blue asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "Roufas, what is 'Nightingales?' Does it mean anything?" Roufas looked at the sign thoughtfully.

"It used to be an old nightclub down on Lower Main Street," Roufas explained, "It closed down around ten years ago, though, because of poor sanitation codes. I guess someone brought the sign down here for some lights, though all it really does is blind everyone." Rouge agreed silently as Roufas continued, "There are a lot of signs down here from places that don't exist that are used simply to help guide people through the sewers. Right now, I'm guessing we're near the center of Lower Main."

"But are we any closer to Joker?" Blue asked, crossing his arms. Roufas nodded.

"Yeah. Just keep following me," he replied, and again, they walked down the tunnel underneath the "Nightingales" sign. It began to get slippery, and Roufas warned them to stay close, but when they reached a tunnel with nothing but cables holding it up, Rouge slipped, grasping the wiring for life as he dangled over the muck.

"Rouge!" Blue called, reaching down, "Hold on! Grab my hand!"

"I'm too far away!" Rouge screamed, as his hand began slipping, "Help!" Roufas and Fuse ran over, but as they came closer, the wires began snapping one by one. Rouge screamed even more, as he was now grasping onto one single wire.

"Calm down, boy! We're trying our best here!" Fuse called down frantically. However, the wire snapped, and Rouge started falling.

"_HELP ME!_" Rouge screamed, as something golden and shiny dashed past Blue and over the newly formed cliff. He watched in shock, until he realized that Alkaiser was saving Rouge. Rouge stopped screaming as Alkaiser caught him and brought him back up to safety.

"Are you all right?" Alkaiser asked, as he put Rouge down, "I was getting worried I might not have been able to catch you there." Rouge looked at Alkaiser in pure shock, though he was truly thankful.

"T-thank you," he managed to say, breathless over what happened. Alkaiser smiled.

"Actually, thank Red. He's the one who threw us off the cliff. He knew that'd trigger our switch," Alkaiser admitted, "I can't come out unless he's in danger." Seeing as how Rouge was shivering from horror, Blue helped him stand up as he looked at Alkaiser graciously.

"Either way, we thank you. You saved my brother," he said. Alkaiser smiled, and then reverted back to Red, who gave the thumbs up. But when the tunnels started rumbling, Red nearly fell into the water this time. Rouge hugged Blue tightly, terrified of plunging back in. Fuse simply clung to a wall.

"What the hell is that!?" Fuse yelled, as the rumbling slowly stopped. Roufas simply adjusted his sunglasses, unfazed.

"That'd be the tunnels collapsing. The sewer system is really old. It won't last forever," Roufas said simply, as the rumbling died down completely. He went to say more, but a loud cough and a croaky voice stopped him. Everyone looked down the tunnel, each one of them scared in a different way.

"Who's there?" came the voice, and its footprints echoed across the hall as it made its way closer. When no one answered, it called again, "Who's there!?" Everyone looked at Fuse, who gulped, but grabbed his blaster and clicked it into place.

"This is the IRPO police force," Fuse said, though the nervousness he felt was very evident as he spoke, "Step into the light or I'll fire." Whoever was coming obeyed, and Roufas gasped when he saw the figure. It was definitely Joker, but he looked terrible. His skin was pale, with green patches on his cheeks, and his hair was greasy and mostly unwashed. But his clothes were what made everyone gasp. Joker was known for dressing elaborately, and yet now he was wearing a dirty pair of jeans and an equally dirty button-down. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"I should've known as soon as I left prison, you'd be on my ass," Joker croaked, coughing when he finished, "'Scuse the mess. Haven't had the energy to clean." Fuse blinked, and slowly lowered the blaster. Blue looked at Joker quizzically, and Rouge looked past him toward a small room with a mattress.

"Do you live down here?" Rouge asked, eyeing the mattress with mild concern. Joker looked at him as though that were an obvious question and nodded.

"Yeah. It ain't like they're letting me live up top, so I make my living down in here," Joker replied, though he didn't sound bitter about it, "It ain't too bad, but it smells sometimes. Sometimes I stop in at Can-Afford to get a sandwich or some medicine. I got a bad cold." Fuse didn't look sympathetic as he held out the receipts from the store.

"We know. We've seen your receipts. We've been watching you," Fuse told him seriously. Joker looked at the receipts tiredly, and then looked at Fuse.

"Why? What'd I do?" he asked, coughing a bit more, "Look, if living down here's a crime, I'll leave. I just thought no one cared about the…"

"It's not about housing," Blue informed him calmly, "Joker, someone was assaulted and she claims it was you. We had no choice but to look for you." Now Joker looked mildly confused. Blue noted that, as did Fuse.

"What? But…" Joker coughed before continuing, "But I've been down here. I only go up to shop, I swear it. I haven't seen a girl since I was jailed for attacking Em… Emil… Emily?"

"Emelia," Rouge corrected, "Do you have witnesses that can prove this?" It was a redundant thing to ask, because no one would help Joker even if he was telling the truth. Joker shook his head, leaning against the wall.

"No one lives down here, not with the tunnels collapsing," Joker said, wiping his forehead, "I thought it'd be a safe place to hide while I find a new place to go and start a new life. But, someone was assaulted?" Fuse nodded.

"Actually, she was murdered. The line went dead and we haven't heard from her since," Fuse told him. Joker squinted his eyes in pain. He must've had a headache as well. He sighed.

"I didn't hurt anyone, but if it'll make it easier, you can take me in," Joker said, "Maybe I'll get over this cold." In all honesty, Blue felt bad for the guy. He seemed to be sincere, and he truly looked like he was on his last legs. Fuse nodded, though he was unsure of what he should actually do now.

"We'll need to. We need a DNA test," Fuse said, "I'm sorry, if it isn't you, we'll find you a place to live. But…"

"It's okay. I understand," Joker said, "I've been through the system. Look, I know what I did to Emelia was terrible, but I didn't hurt anyone else. If it's not me, I wanna help you catch this guy. He needs to be told that what he's doing ain't right either." Fuse seemed hesitant, not just because what Joker said didn't exactly make sense, but because he was an ex-criminal, according to himself. For now, though, they had to trust him.

"All right. I'll use the beam to get us back," Fuse said, holding onto Joker, as he was about to fall down. Red looked at Fuse.

"The beam?" he asked. Fuse grinned and show them a small button on a remote.

"It's a device we use for instant transportation to IRPO. Because Joker was deemed so dangerous, Doll told me to use it when I find him," Fuse explained, "I'm using it not because he's a threat, but because he needs medical attention and if he's not the one, we need to find the one as soon as possible." Red nodded, and nothing more was said as Fuse pushed the button, and instantly, everyone was warped into the IRPO lobby, with or without a terrible sensation of getting sick. Joker fell over, coughing terribly.

"Ah, _damn it!_" Fuse yelled, as he threw up all over the floor, "You'd better not get my shoes or you're dead!"

"Is he all right!?" Emelia said, rushing over, but as soon as she saw who it was, she glared, "" Fuse yelled, as he threw up all over the floor, "You'd better not get my shoes or you're dead!"

"Is he all right!?" Emelia said, rushing over, but as soon as she saw who it was, she glared, "_You!_" Joker looked at her, and her expression softened slightly.

"Emelia…?" he asked, "What're you… doing… here…?" Emelia blinked and looked at Blue.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked. Blue frowned.

"He's sick. He came out of prison, but he's getting really sick," Blue explained, "We brought him in for questioning about a crime I don't think he committed, but he's really…"

"I can speak to her," Joker said slowly, struggling to stand, "You're looking at..." He looked at her, unable to find the right thing to say, and then sighed, "You're looking at a killer and someone who ruined your life. You've no need to… ugh… you've no need to know why I'm here." He looked ready to throw up, but he controlled it. Emelia looked down, and Blue thought he saw a tear roll down her eye.

"Well, I AM here, and I do want to know," she said slowly, "I want to know why you're here, and why you did what you did." Joker closed his eyes, trying to remember that day, but it was so blurry in his mind. He recalled yelling at Ren. He recalled trying to kill Emelia when Roufas stopped him. And he recalled… a phone call. Now he could remember.

"I got a phone call that day from someone," he started, sitting down, "They were offering a bounty on Ren, something about taking some model of theirs away. She was really famous, too. Looked good in anything, they said. I wasn't sure, but they said it'd be worth the while. So I accepted. I went in, fully loaded and partly drunk, yelling about the stolen model. Ren had no idea what I was talking about. Accidentally, I unloaded a sheet of clips, knocking down the monitor on the wall. It crushed him." Emelia stared at him, unable to believe what she heard.

"Then why attack me!?" she asked, "And why didn't you help him if you didn't mean to kill him!?"

"I was under complete panic," Joker admitted, "The crash snapped me out of my drunken rage, but when I saw Ren bleeding, and the glass shard sticking out of his back, I lost it. I put the monitor back and ran for it. I saw you coming in, and when I saw you again later, I was sure you were gonna sic the cops on me. They wouldn't believe it was an accident. I already had a record for shoplifting. Trust me, too, attacking you was the last mistake I plan on making… er, well, jailwise, anyway." Emelia looked away, narrowing her eyes. She remembered the wounds, the cracked monitor, the gun shots… She looked at Joker.

"Are you telling me that the murder wasn't a murder at all?" she asked. Joker nodded.

"I didn't know what to do to make it fair, though that's not an excuse for what happened," Joker said seriously, "I mean, I tried to help Ren out. I tried to take the shard out, but I realized if I did that, he'd bleed to death. Lot of good that did, anyway, because obviously he died after I left." Emelia's eyes still narrowed, but she was speechless. The police were sure it was a murder, and now to hear that it wasn't… she glared at Fuse.

"You told me it was a homicide!" she growled angrily, "How could you not know it wasn't?" Fuse raised a perplexed brow, not understanding why she was questioning him, but he might as well answer her anyway, in his mind.

"All the evidence pointed to a murder," Fuse replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "At the time, I told you the report I was given. The new evidence wasn't received until much later. And by that time, Joker here was already in the slammer for your assault." Emelia's eyes softened, and she looked from Joker to Fuse, then back again.

"I… want to see this report," she whispered, "I never knew… what it was that killed him… I thought it was Joker, but…" Joker looked up at Fuse, and he sighed, reaching into a large file cabinet. After a minute of leafing through papers, he pulled out a rather thick file and gave it to Emelia.

"I'd have thought someone else would've given you the report despite my absence," Fuse said sternly, "I'm sorry." Emelia nodded with understanding, but her hands were shaking. Now she would finally find closure with what happened. Now, just maybe now, she could forgive Joker. And maybe now she could start living her life without fear of what happened. She opened the file and read it carefully. She looked at the photos of the damage. The monitor was busted as badly as Joker had said, the clips in the exact spot he said. And there was Ren, dead, with the shard in his back. She noticed that the monitor _was_ moved. It was crooked, as though it'd fallen, and with the light showing the screen perfectly, she saw the blood on it.

"Ren Cavanaugh, age 28… died of a snapped spinal cord… and severe blood loss… resulting in stab trauma from a glass object, no lighter than two hundred pounds," she read, her voice shaking, "The gun shots appear to be random, in no way… targeting the victim… though that was the cause… of the object slamming the victim… there was no break-in… the knobs had no DNA of anyone besides the victim…" Tears had begun to fall as she read the report aloud, and Joker looked away as she continued, "Was thought to be a homicide… but when found to be an accident, release of the suspects, Emelia Rose and Steven "Joker" Lensev were asked for release, unless continuous suits were accumulated." Joker's eyes widened. For a minute, the two looked at each other. Emelia was both relieved and upset to find that Joker wasn't the one who killed Ren. Joker was shocked that he was asked to be released.

"I was… found innocent?" Joker asked, "But… but I almost killed Emelia."

"Which was why you weren't released," Fuse explained, as Emelia put the file down, "We could've argued that with extreme emotional distress, but we had to be careful because you were already on watch with other pettier crimes. We were almost as shocked as you are." Joker blinked, unable to understand. He'd been through hell over something he was innocent of. No, not just him. Emelia as well. He looked at her, still shocked.

"I… I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I'm sorry for what happened. I… I should have explained it a long time ago. Back when I saw you walking into that house…" Emelia looked hesitant, but nodded slowly.

"It's all right. I forgive you," she replied, "I'm just glad… that I finally know what happened." Joker nodded, standing up. Blue noticed that he had an almost renewed strength in him.

"I'm sure Ren would feel better knowing you were doing all right," Joker said calmly, "Did you ever get to go to his funeral?" Emelia blinked, thinking it was an odd question, but she nodded. Perhaps Joker was trying to test her, or maybe he was genuinely wondering.

"Yeah. They held a nice one for him in the precinct burial site," Emelia replied, "It was shortly after my escape from jail." Joker looked at her, and would've laughed, except that he was trying to be polite.

"You had to _escape?_" he asked, putting emphasis on the word, "Wow, someone really did screw up. I'm really sorry. I didn't even think you were jailed, to be honest." Emelia nodded, smiling.

"They pinned it on me," she replied, "I was just lucky to get out, though." Joker was about to say something else about the police force when Fuse intervened.

"As much as I enjoy that you two aren't about to kill each other, Joker, you _are_ wanted for questioning," he reminded them, and Joker grinned.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about it," he said, coughing again, "Well, what are you going to use? The same lie detector tests as last time, or did you come out with newer equipment?" Everyone watched as Fuse led Joker away, explaining the new procedures. Emelia looked down again, and Blue glanced at her. He could still hear Fuse talking, but right now, that wasn't important.

"Will you really be okay?" he asked, as Roufas and Rouge sat down in some chairs. Emelia sniffled, and then nodded.

"Yeah. It's just… I've hated him for so long. The thought that he might just be a bumbling nutjob is a little hard to accept," she replied, wiping her nose, "I thought about him in my mind, idealized him to be this horrible monster, this cold-blooded murderer. To see him here, calmly talking to us about what happened, and to see it all check out… the illusion I made to protect myself was shattered. It's awkward." Blue nodded comfortingly and patted her back. He understood how that went. When he was sent to kill Rouge, he thought it was because Rouge had become a magical monster. He thought absorbing Rouge's magic would've saved him. It was terrifying to find it was only an experiment.

"Well, at least you know he won't kill you," Rouge said, trying to find the silver lining in what had transpired, "And you can finally sleep at night again. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't try to explain beforehand." Roufas, who'd been sitting in a chair, lazily reading a magazine, took off his shades, waving his arm airily.

"It's not like the police would've believed him, anyway. And what's stopping Emelia from believing him?" he asked, raising a skeptical brow. Emelia smirked as she pointed to the file she put on the desk.

"How about the truth?" she retorted sarcastically, "I just need some time to think." Blue nodded again, and for a long time, everyone remained silent.

Fuse and Joker returned about an hour later, both looking equally as dumbfounded as they walked into the lobby. Blue stood up, giving Fuse a questioning look. He told everyone to sit down, even though only Blue was actually standing. Joker crossed his arms, a grim look on his face.

"All right, everyone, we got some bad news here," Fuse growled, sitting on the desk, "Joker's not the one we're looking for." Rouge raised an amused eyebrow.

"Then what's the good news?" he asked, chuckling. But the look on Joker's face silenced him.

"That _is_ the good news," Joker said grimly, "The bad news is, although my DNA doesn't match what was found on the crime scene, it resembles whoever DID assault the girl." Red's eyes widened, and he tilted his head. Blue looked mildly concerned, and both Rouge and Roufas looked at Joker quizzically. He nodded as though answering an unspoken question.

"Steven here has an older brother," Fuse explained calmly, "He's the real culprit." Emelia looked horrified.

"What!? You have an older brother that attacks innocent women!?" she gasped, growing pale. Joker nodded slowly, though he couldn't believe it either.

"My family's into some pretty dark business, but after I botched on the bounty I was given, our reputation was pretty much shattered. Mom and dad gave up on the business. I guess they saw it was too risky, but my brother… I thought he was all the way in Shingrow," Joker replied, "When Fuse saw my DNA was rejected, he tried searching the database, and my brother's name came up." Rouge looked at the floor, glaring angrily.

"This sounds like a set up," he said furiously, "Think he wanted revenge?"

"Definitely. I seriously screwed up that day," Joker replied, nodding and then sitting down, "I'm what made mom and dad quit. I don't even know if they're still alive. But… man, if he's in Koorong, we're in a lot of trouble."

"Why's that?" Blue asked, tilting his head. Joker bit his lip, and then decided to answer.

"He used to work for this really bad group. I think it was called Black X," Joker started, and Red's eyes widened again. Black X was incredibly familiar to him.

"I know them! Did he work for a guy named Shuzer?" Red asked, and Joker blinked, surprised that Red would know, and nodded.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he did," Joker answered, smiling slightly, "Anyway, there was a base in Koorong belonging to Black X, and if he's gotten into it… there are a lot of weapons and explosives in there, I think. Unless the base was cleared out, he's got his hands on some pretty flashy shit in there." Red looked away, and he could see Alkaiser was looking guilty as well.

"It… it wasn't cleared out," Red said slowly, "When I defeated Shuzer… I didn't think anyone would ever go in there again." Fuse's eyes bugged angrily, and Red shrunk down a bit, terrified. He knew he made a terrible mistake.

"You WHAT!?" Fuse asked angrily, "You didn't even TRY to close it off!? What were you thinking!?" Blue could see that Red was shaking violently. Alkaiser's eyes narrowed protectively, yet he knew he couldn't be released.

"I… I thought that maybe no one would bother going into the sewers," Red whispered, afraid he'd be shot now, "I'm sorry." Fuse's eyes narrowed furiously, but he didn't attack. Instead, he sighed.

"Well, looks like we're heading back to Koorong," Fuse said, standing up, "Blue, go get in the plane. You and I are going. Rouge, you stay here with Red and Roufas, see what you can dig up on Steven's brother." Rouge nodded, and together with Red and Roufas, headed off to an elevator to get to his office. Blue was already on his way to the quad. Emelia glanced at Joker, and he stepped forward.

"I'm coming with you. I know how to find my brother, and I know where the base in question is," Joker stated, and when Fuse looked at him daringly, he added, "I've seen it in the tunnels." Fuse looked critically at Joker, and then nodded reluctantly. He beckoned the boy to follow him.

"All right. I don't like the thought, but if you say you know where he is, then I'll let you help," Fuse replied, and they both ran towards the quad, leaving Emelia to follow Rouge, "But no funny business. If I find that you're lying, I'm arresting you." Joker nodded, and they ran inside the quad. Fuse jumped into the plane he indicated, completely ignoring the ladder as Joker climbed inside as well. Without a word, Fuse rushed into the control room and started the ignition. At least now, they had a lead to follow.

"Koorong, here we come."

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, with Joker's innocence all checked out, will this new lead solve the murder? Or is it just another dead end for our favorite police force? Is Emelia taking the reality of Joker's character well, or has it driven her slightly insane? And how will Rouge fare at being separated from Blue for the first time since they joined IRPO? And is Joker a trustworthy partner? Find all of the answers out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	18. Murder, with a twist

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and I think they deserve an award for it, too.

"Dude, slow down! You realize we're going over twice the speed limit for aircraft, don't you!?" Joker asked, as they sped through the sky past Baccarat, toward Koorong. Fuse, who'd been piloting for maybe twenty minutes, looked back at Joker skeptically as Blue tried to ignore everything.

"And? Son, this is police business. We're looking for a killer," Fuse reminded him sternly, "As long as we're not hitting anything, we can go as fast as we want." Blue looked at Joker, seeing that he looked about as calm as a deer in the headlights. Obviously, he wasn't keen on going faster than he needed to, for fear of crashing. Blue didn't blame him.

"I'll be sure to tell that to the paramedics," Blue muttered, just low enough for only Joker to hear. Joker gave a short laugh as Fuse rolled his eyes, not actually hearing what Joker happened to be laughing at. They continued through the air until thick thunderclouds rolled in, a true sign that they were nearing the border into the desolate, dilapidated city. When it started to rain bucketloads, Fuse had no choice but to land just outside of the city. Flying any further was dangerous, he had explained, as any lightning that could've been striking could hit them. Neither Blue nor Joker complained as they hopped off of the plane onto the soggy ground. Joker shivered.

"Damn. Maybe I should've thought this through a little more," he said, trying to suppress a cough. Blue ran back inside, grabbed the umbrella and a blanket, and walked back out, handing both to Joker, who wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and opened up the umbrella as he said, "Thanks."

"Okay, we should be near the south gate," Fuse said, taking note of their current surroundings and looking at a compass, "According from the maps in our database, there are over ten entrances into the sewers, three of which are on the southern side. Joker, which one is closer to the Black X base you were talking about?" Joker bit his lip, trying to remember. He hadn't paid attention to what entrance or gate he came from. He had found the base simply by wandering around, but he had taken note of every turn he'd made from his home.

"I'm not sure," Joker admitted, "I went from my home directly to it. I don't remember which entrance I took when I moved down there." Fuse snapped his fingers in slight disappointment, but Joker added, "If we go back to my place, I can figure out where to go from there." Fuse looked at Joker skeptically. He didn't want to waste any time, but if Joker said he knew how to get there, he'd just have to trust him. Reluctantly, he handed command over to Joker.

"All right. We'll go to your place first," Fuse sighed, "But if you get us lost, any murders your brother pins down will be your responsibility." Joker agreed to that fully, and without another word, they ran into the city, through the alley, and into Lower Main street as quickly as possible. As there were no citizens around, travel was much easier, though the rain made the grate on the sewer entrance very slippery and hard to lift off. Joker had decided it wasn't safe to use the one near Can-Afford, in case something else had gotten through the entrance. Blue agreed, and with his and Fuse's strength, the covering came off of the entrance very quickly. Joker ignored the ladder as he jumped down, and Fuse followed suit. Blue didn't want to risk breaking his neck, so he simply climbed down.

"We're not too far away from where I live," Joker said, as they ran down a tunnel that smelled horribly of dying fish, "Just another turn and… here." Joker stopped, and surely enough, they were in the center of the city, just as they had been when they first found Joker.

"That didn't take long at all," Fuse said, confused. Joker smiled.

"That's because we left on the lower street. You had to go through a whole layer of sewers before you reached here last time, because Can-Afford is one floor above where we came in," Joker replied, and turned back to the center island within the sewage, where his bed and boxed still stood. He looked carefully at the tunnels that came into the large chamber, and pointed to one across the chamber, "That one in the back. You can tell because of the "Snappy's" sign. Come on." Blue and Fuse followed Joker, and they dashed across the bridge onto the island. Joker stopped to look just once more at his home, and then continued on through the next bridge, running down the steps into the tunnel. It turned a sharp corner into a very dark passage, illuminated only by shafts of light that came through a broken ceiling. The smell of fresh earth pushed through those shafts, and Blue guessed that they were just leaving Koorong, or where close to.

"How could they see in the dark?" Fuse asked, lighting a lantern he packed. However, even with the illumination from the lamp, it only lit a few feet around Fuse. He could barely see Blue, and Joker was hidden completely, the only clue that he was still there being his voice.

"Before Alkaiser broke the base up, there were lights strung every so often on the ceiling to help members find their way through. But the explosion Shuzer caused must've blown everything electrical out," Joker explained, adding that this was from his brother, "Look here, sir. You can see the remains of one of the lamps." Fuse held the light over, and found Joker pointing. He followed the invisible line that was Joker's gaze and found the lamp. The glass had been shattered, but the frame was still in tact. It looked like an old lamp in the middle ages, or possibly a design still used in Fascinaturu.

"So, do we need to follow the remains of lights to find the base?" Blue asked, and Joker shook his head, even though the darkness prevented anyone from seeing.

"No. We follow the path. Hopefully, there'll be some light from up above to help us out, but if not, there should still be one sign standing to help us find the entrance. I'm not sure what it says, but any sign we find should be looked at," Joker replied seriously. Fuse agreed, and let Joker take the lead again. They walked down the tunnel again, though this time they moved much more slowly. The water seeping through the earth made the ground very slippery, and the collapsed bricks and metal didn't help. Quite a few times, Joker had to stop to let the other two catch up, and while he was slowly getting annoyed, he didn't complain. He didn't blame them for being especially slow. Finally, after slogging through what appeared to be an underground marsh, which turned out to simply be a flooded tunnel, they found solid, dry ground. Fuse sighed, leaning against the wall.

"Phew! I was beginning to think the base had sunk," Fuse commented tiredly, "Mind if we rest, boys?" Blue, who looked equally as exhausted, shook his head and sat on a box.

"No, sir. I could use a break," Blue replied. Joker didn't say anything, but sat down, silently glad for the rest. Fuse took out a cell phone, and dialed a number. Blue tilted his head, and realized Fuse was just calling Rouge to check in when a familiar voice rang over the phone.

"Fuse? What's up, boss?" Rouge called on the other end, as Red cursed angrily. A stack of papers he'd been working on just fell over, earning a laugh from Roufas. Fuse perked a suspicious eyebrow, but didn't comment on it.

"We're checking in for a report, soldier. Any news?" Fuse asked. He heard a shuffling of papers, and Rouge's voice rang again.

"Nothing that could pin his location in Koorong, but when he was in Shingrow, he was pursued for interrupting the battle competition, theft of the Tribal Spear, and for assaulting three contestants, seven armed guards, and the airport receptionist. One of the contestants who reported the assault was the Pink Tiger," Rouge explained, "Unfortunately, she assumed it was Joker, because he wore the same costume Joker had. When they checked DNA and found it wasn't Joker, but his brother, they went after him." Though Fuse couldn't see it, Emelia's face paled considerably. She was the Pink Tiger, and she had made the report. Joker snorted, having remembered being tried for that too.

"Oh, uh… oops. That was me," Emelia said quietly, "Sorry again, Jok… er… Steven." Joker actually laughed, having heard his actual name. He hoped Emelia didn't take offense from the laughter, but it was humorous.

"No worries. Just another reason for me to pound my brother's face in later," Joker replied with amusement, and when Fuse cleared his throat loudly, added, "Er… metaphorically speaking, of course." Fuse nodded approvingly, but everyone else knew that was just a lie to keep Fuse from complaining. Fuse returned his attention to Rouge.

"Not only that, he caused several casualties on the Cygnus, which again was pinned on Joker," Rouge replied. Joker's eyes narrowed.

"Emelia?" he called, slightly annoyed. Emelia's face was near white now.

"Sorry again," she squeaked, and heard Joker sigh.

"Well, at this rate, I'll simply have to gun my brother down rather than waste the time and effort beating him up. Of course, I'll need to remind him of what exactly he got away with, but…" Joker noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Fuse was looking at him coldly.

"Do I need to remind you that assaulting people, even if it's justified, is a criminal offense?" Fuse asked grimly, "And using a gun without a license is just as bad?" Joker rolled his eyes.

"That's the problem with you, though! You guys didn't even catch my brother, and you certainly didn't follow him," Joker retorted, and Red spat out his coffee, as he also agreed, "So if you won't do your job, I'll do mine." Fuse's eyes narrowed even more, and a drop of sweat rolled down the cop's face.

"Don't make me go 'bad cop' on you," Fuse mumbled, "I'll get away with it. You won't." Joker didn't seem the least bit fazed with this warning, but Rouge's voice caused the current argument to fizzle.

"There's more, boss," Rouge continued, "He swindled the dwarves in Baccarat out of two million credits. Thankfully, it wasn't reported on Joker, as the waitress didn't actually see him." Joker's lips tightened. He knew exactly who the waitress happened to be, or at least he had a good guess. He could imagine Emelia edging away, but he didn't say anything, since technically, he wasn't blamed for it.

"The way this is going, I'm going to have to issue a death sentence on him," Fuse growled, "Thanks for the report, son. Keep searching. We're going to head out again." Rouge nodded from the other end.

"Okay. We'll phone you if we hit anything important," Rouge replied, "Good luck. And you'd better come back in one piece, bro." The last part, he aimed at Blue, who smiled.

"I'll be sure to do that, Rouge," Blue promised, and then Rouge hung up. Fuse flipped his phone off and pocketed it.

"Looks like we'd better get moving. Your brother's a pretty bad deal," Fuse stated grimly, straightening up, "Let's hope he's at this base, and that Doll did warn the airport authorities." Joker nodded, and as Blue got up off of the ground, they continued down the dark, dank tunnel, feeling refreshed with the report and the resting they had. Joker carefully led the way, and as he had hoped, the shafts of light providing enough light to be able to see, and soon they spotted the entrance into the Black X base. It had been boarded up, but the wood that blocked the way in was smashed, and by the musty smell, it was done recently. Blue and Fuse took out their flashlights as they neared the doorway, all the while making sure to walk as slowly and carefully as they could.

"I'll head in first. I'm probably the strongest here," Fuse said firmly, "Blue, you come in when I flash the light at you two, and Joker, you take up the rear." The two didn't object, so Fuse turned his light on and walked in, arming his blaster just in case he was attacked. He wasn't. Before beckoning to Blue, he shined the light around to get a good look at the building. It was dusty, and the tables were mostly stacked with chairs, and none looked like they'd been used in months, possibly years. Dirty, old cups lined the bar, which needed a good cleaning. Only the floor looked swept up, and as Fuse turned on the light switch, none of the lights turned on. But nothing looked like it had been through an explosion. This puzzled Fuse. Joker had been so sure of an explosion. Had he been reported wrong? Had he misheard? Or had his brother simply lied? Fuse couldn't be sure, but Joker would probably be just as surprised as he was. He turned the light back into the tunnel, and soon Blue and Joker joined him. And as he had thought, Joker was confused by the scene. As they walked in, all Joker could do was stare around in complete disbelief.

"But… but everything was supposed to be in ruins," he whispered, running his finger across a dusty, but still usable table, "Are we in the wrong base?" Fuse shook his head and pointed to an old board that had a piece of large parchment somewhat attached to it. Most of the parchment was ripped off, but the part that was readable listed a few of the base rules. Blue looked around carefully. The furniture indeed looked stable, but he noticed the walls had suffered severe damage, and there were piles of ashes in the shadows, looking as though they'd been swept there.

"Hold on, look at this," Blue said quietly, gesturing toward where he was pointing the flashlight, "Doesn't that look a little suspicious?" Joker squinted his eyes and looked, and then nodded.

"All of this stuff's been replaced," he concluded, and Blue nodded, "But… why? Think my brother lives down here?" Fuse raised an amused eyebrow.

"If he's anything like you, he might not have much choice," Fuse stated, but something still bothered Joker.

"That wouldn't make sense. I'd have seen him, or heard something, wouldn't I?" Joker asked, and Fuse admitted that that was a crucial point. Blue flashed the light around in a few more corners, revealing more ashes. Now that they were visible under the light, everyone began to get a very bad feeling. Joker shivered and coughed again, and Blue became very tense. Only Fuse seemed to not be affected, at least outwardly.

"Well, if he _is_ here, we'd better find him. Who knows what else he could be doing," Fuse growled darkly, walking into a door in the back, the only door in the entire room, "He won't wait for us, unless he's either stupid or has a really good plan to kill us." Blue rolled his eyes as they walked into the room, as Fuse had begun gloating about how he survived over one thousand plots on his life back in the war in Scrap. Blue seriously doubted every word dribbling from Fuse's mouth.

"Knowing our luck, the plan your brother assumedly has won't need to be too complicated," Blue whispered to Joker, who laughed hysterically, though he kept it low enough so Fuse didn't hear. After that, neither of them talked as they walked through the base. There was nothing of interest at all, save for a bookcase full of old books. But Blue knew better than to go through them. They could be rotting, or they could have traps in them, and he couldn't risk another injury, not after what he went through in Manhattan. Finally, a closed door into the kitchen caught their attention, only because of the light that was shining through the tiny window. It illuminated a slight ray across the floor, and as Fuse went to take a peek, he gasped.

"He's in there, all right," Fuse whispered, hunching his shoulders. Joker pushed right behind him, but still couldn't see, as Fuse refused to move to let him through.

"What's he doing?" Blue called, as Joker finally managed to get toward the window. He looked in. His brother was indeed sitting at the table, with a small lamp turned on. He looked a little like Joker, except his green hair was much, much longer, and his clothes were cleaner. And, he looked relatively healthy. He was reading something, but what it was, neither Joker nor Fuse could see.

"It looks like he's reading," Joker replied carefully, and when Fuse bent down for something, Joker jumped back, screaming, "_What are you doing!?_"

"Pipe down, son. I'm breaking the door open," Fuse said simply, taking out his blaster and charging it just slightly as to not completely blow the door apart.

"_But why!? It's not safe!_" Joker hissed, "He'll kill us if he comes out!" Fuse took a minute to look at Joker.

"He's not coming out," he said plainly, and went back to picking the lock, "Just trust me." Blue snorted, and Joker found this to be very hard to do. For nearly ten minutes, Fuse tried to work out the lock, keeping very quiet and hoping that his companions were doing the same. With one soft click, the lock opened, though Fuse didn't push on the door. Joker tilted his head, waiting for something to happen, and then Fuse opened the door… only to find the room empty. His eyes widened and he ran in.

"Looks like he went out, sir," Blue said, almost mockingly, and Fuse cursed angrily as Joker walked to the table and looked at the book on it. It was a photo album. Joker looked at it for what felt like a very long time, and eventually Blue came over.

"Is that…" Blue started, and Joker nodded before he could finish.

"Yes. That's my family," he replied, smiling weakly, "That's my mom, holding me, and my dad's the one with the football. My brother's the one holding the rake. Man, I didn't think this album survived." Blue patted Joker's shoulder, and Fuse came over to take a look at the picture. The family was sitting on a back porch on a nice, autumn day. The sun was shining in a resilient golden glow, and the leaves were spectacular colors of red, yellow, orange, and brown, all with different hues. It was hard to think such a nice family could be such a dangerous one.

"What was it that made you all go into the dark business that you did?" Fuse asked quietly, and Joker looked away from the book, trying to remember. He never actually knew why, all he knew was that it was to pay for something. He relayed it all to Fuse, who looked both shocked and unable to believe it. And Joker didn't blame him.

"Your family is much different than I'd have thought," Fuse commented, and Joker nodded sadly.

"I know. My mom and dad were good people. I never understood why they'd put us all through… well, basically, the mafia, except not Italian. But they'd never answer whenever I asked, and my brother didn't know either," Joker explained distantly, "He hated the jobs he did, too. But it was the only way to survive, or we could've lost our home. When dad came home one day, blood dripping off of his arm, mom was in hysterics. I never knew what happened, but my brother did, and he swore he'd kill their boss. I never saw him after that, except for if he wrote to me." He took out a picture of him with his brother, and a tear welled up in his eye as he added, "We used to be so close… then… that day, he just changed." The tear fell and splashed the picture, but no more had followed it. Blue understood how Joker felt. He had the same bond with Rouge. Fuse looked down, knowing he had to make a tough decision, but he had to do his job, and that was avenging a dead woman. Seriously, he walked to the doorway.

"Regardless of your bond, he still needs to be jailed," Fuse stated firmly, "He killed a woman. He can't be allowed to escape, so let's go and find him." As he turned, though, Fuse found he was face to face with the man who was in the room before, and Joker gasped. Just above Joker's height, with long green hair and a pale complexion, stood his brother in his elegant clothing. He looked calmly at the group.

"That should not be so hard, officer," he replied, walking in, "As I am right here, where I should be."

"Darius! What are you doing here?" Joker asked, and Darius looked at him, a bit surprised, but nonetheless relieved. He smiled and sat down.

"Steven? You're all right?" Darius asked, "I thought you were in jail for assaulting that super model. Did you get released?" Joker nodded grimly, and Blue leaned against the wall, arms crossed. If they were going to reign in Darius, it was on Joker's shoulders now. And Fuse seemed to know this as well, as he closed the door and remained standing.

"Just barely. As it turns out, I didn't kill her fiancé, and I attacked her out of panic," Joker said, "But I'm not here to talk about me. Darius, we're here to ask you about the woman you murdered. Why did you do it? You know it's wrong, don't you?" He looked at Darius with as much concern as he could, and Darius turned away, ashamed. He nodded.

"I know it was, but there's a reason I gunned her down," Darius explained, "Mom and dad are dead." Joker's eyes widened, and he wasn't sure he actually heard right.

"What!? They're… they're dead?" he whispered, his voice breaking. Darius nodded, and Blue intervened.

"That is no reason to murder an innocent woman," he stated sternly, and Darius looked in his direction, still as calm as before.

"That woman was anything but innocent," Darius retorted, his calmness nearly faltering, "Nearly twenty years ago, when Joker was barely in kindergarten, something really bad happened to our family. Our savings were broken into, and everything our great-great-grandmother had left to the family was stolen. The bank couldn't recover a cent of it, and we were quickly going into serious debt. Mom and dad… asked our aunt Rita for help, and she agreed, but at a very steep price." Fuse looked at him, both interested and disturbed at the same time. Joker blinked, and he finally caught on.

"Wait… you mean," Joker began, his voice lowering, "You mean, she was why we did those horrible things?" Darius nodded.

"Yup. She had her own business of drug-smuggling, bribery, theft, and murder, and out of desperation, mom and dad joined it," Darius said grimly, shivering, "Unfortunately, the debt was being paid slowly, because Rita kept skimming money off of the top for herself. Eventually, I joined in to help, but mostly to find proof to bust her little business right through her roof. I didn't find a thing."

"But why couldn't we just run away? Why not call the police?" Joker asked childishly, and Darius snorted.

"Don't be naïve, Steven," Darius scolded, "Rita was a ruthless woman with millions and millions of credits. She could've easily paid them away. And, she would know how to find us if we escaped. Dad tried to get her to let us be, and you saw what happened. Those little scandals I did back in Shingrow and on that ship? The ones you were blamed for? Those were to get what I needed to bring that wretch down." Joker's eyes welled up again from the memory of his father's bloody body. Blue's brows furrowed, and Fuse's lips tightened.

"Still those were illegal means," Fuse replied firmly, "And what about your incident in Baccarat?" Darius laughed.

"That made the media? Incredible," Darius sighed, "That wasn't a swindle. I went to the dwarves for help, and they agreed. Unfortunately, they're blind little midgets, and they can't read a damn. When the waitress informed them that they were to pay me two million credits for not reporting their rigged bar games, they reported it as a misdemeanor, but they're the ones who signed the damn contract. They were going to use being blind as a defense." Fuse's lips tightened even more, as that wasn't even a crime now, and he sighed. This was a tough call, but something still didn't fit. And Joker managed to get the final piece.

"But why the woman? Who was she?" Joker asked, and Darius smiled, though it was grim.

"That was our cousin, Elena," Darius replied, "She threatened to have you killed if I didn't repay the debt, because of your botch on the bounty. I told her that we paid more than our debt, and she was about to have Koorong blown to pieces to kill you. I had to do something, so I took a knife and wedged the control out of her hands. When she ran, I couldn't let her get away. She was going to kill so many people. I swear, I didn't mean to kill her, but I'm not sorry that I did." Fuse closed his eyes, struggling now. He had no way to check Darius's story, and Darius seemed very sincere. Joker had turned out to be innocent of most of his crimes, so could his brother be equally as innocent? Once again, a phone call saved that answer.

"What is it?" Fuse asked quickly, and Rouge sounded very upset.

"Sir, you're not going to believe this," Rouge said quickly, scrolling down the screen, "Joker's family was enslaved by his aunt for paying a mass amount of debt, and his father was injured when he went to settle it. Two years ago, the parents were killed, and that's when Darius reported his aunt. But she made the little incident disappear, so she was never caught, but she sent her daughter out to finish Joker and his brother off. The reinforcements up top just found a broken remote and there's signals of bombs located all around the area. You have to get out of there." Fuse's eyes widened, and he hung up the phone without a word. That told him everything he needed to know. Darius was innocent, and he saved the entire city. But the bombs were ticking now. He knew that.

"Are you all right sir?" Blue asked, noting the terror in Fuse's eyes, "What did Rouge say?" Fuse practically broke the door off of its hinges.

"We need to run," he said hastily, and everyone stood up, making for the door as he explained, "Darius, when you inadvertently killed your cousin, the remote was crushed, and it set off the timers. Thankfully, when everyone heard Joker might be back, they all fled, but we have to move before those bombs go off."

"_WHAT!?_ There are bombs down here!?" Blue screamed, as they ran out of the base, and through the tunnels, ignoring the water and garbage as they passed. Fuse nodded.

"Rouge said the reinforcements that Doll sent to us picked up the signals on the radar. I don't know how long we have, but it can't be that long," Fuse said, as they rushed through a half-submerged tunnel and dashed up a flight of stairs, into the central chamber. As they passed, Joker and Darius collected various sacks, and then caught up quickly as the tunnels rumbled.

"Damn it! They're starting!" Darius cursed angrily, as they left the chamber into a dim path, "So much for saving anyone." Blue glanced as they ran.

"On the contrary, you saved a lot of people," Blue said, "No one is here save for the police." Darius smiled, but the urgency of what was happening made that smile fade very quickly. They found the ladder they had used, and scrambling up, they saw that the plane was right there, engine on, with the reinforcements climbing in. One man thrust his arm down the ladder.

"Come up, quickly! We've got less than two minutes before this place explodes!" he yelled over the engine, and as Joker had gone up first, he grabbed the soldier's arm and was hoisted onto the plane. Blue followed suit, and Darius climbed up by himself as the soldier helped Blue. Fuse was last, and when they were all safely inside, along with the things Joker and Darius had taken, the door swung shut. The pilot didn't hesitate as the plane lifted off of the ground and flew into the air as a roar erupted deep under the ground. Sewage spewed from the manhole, and finally erupted into flames as the bombs were set off. The shock shook the plane, but no damage was taken. Joker looked out the window into the fiery abyss far below.

"So much for a home," he mumbled, and Darius patted his back.

"I'm sure we'll find something," Darius said quietly, as they watched the city being devoured by the hungry flames. Joker silently hoped that what Blue said about the citizens escaping was correct, and looked at Fuse, remembering their deal. Fuse nodded wisely.

"We'll provide you with a home, but we need to clear you both of the crime before we do so," he said calmly, "Will you be willing to make statements?" Darius nodded for both him and Joker.

"Of course. Anything to help us get our lives back," Darius replied sternly, "Anything to help you catch someone who should've been locked up years ago." Joker nodded with agreement, and Fuse turned to the control room.

"Next stop, IRPO!"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, another case is nearly solved, and once again, Joker and his brother turned out to be completely innocent, if not a little revenge-driven. But what other mysteries do Joker's family have? Where will his case bring the IRPO police force? Why was he put through so many dangerous jobs, and can they catch his aunt, who turned his life to hell before he could learn to count? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	19. The beginning of a Lawsuit

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and because they didn't merge with Enix until years after the game was made, I'm crediting it to SquareSoft as such.

The plane flew through the sky, and though they were miles from Koorong at that point, the sounds of the roaring flames and the gushing sewage pipes was still louder than ever. Joker and Darius watched the entire scene with a mixture of sadness and guilt, and only when the scene finally vanished over the horizon did either brother attempt to speak.

"Even if we saved their lives, they won't forgive us for what we did," Joker stated, looking down at the windowsill, "We… we were pretty terrible." Darius patted his back, and Blue, who'd been reading, looked up and shook his head, his voice as gentle as ever.

"Not necessarily. Once we go public with the new information we have on you, Joker, I'm sure they'll be more than willing to forgive," Blue assured him, smiling, "Besides, aside from the petty theft of candy and soda, that one bounty was really your only mission." Darius nodded, giving Joker an amused look, but Joker didn't share the optimism.

"But I seriously screwed up so many lives with it," Joker replied, still ashamed, "I'm lucky Emilia actually forgave me. She was one of the best. A lot of people were mad that she was jailed because of me."

"A lot of those people are probably dead by now," Darius reminded him, and Blue glared, "No, just hear me out. Most of her supporters were involved in a lot of bad scams themselves. With people like Anita Campbell and our aunt out there, how long could those supporters last in that kind of business?" Blue bit his lip. Darius had a good point, and if they found any records, they'd have more to bring Joker's aunt in for. However, even that didn't make Joker feel much better.

"What about the ones that aren't dead?" he asked, sighing, "Like her two friends, Liza and Annie? Or her boss, Roufas? They hate me." Fuse, who'd been leaning against the door to listen silently, snorted. Joker turned his gaze to the older cop.

"Well, that's only a few people. One hundred at the most of live supporters," Fuse replied, and Joker flopped his head on the window pane, "You can live with a hundred angry people, right?" Blue looked at Fuse with annoyance, unable to believe that the statement was his way of comforting a scared, innocent man. Then he looked back at Joker, trying his best to reassure him where Fuse had failed.

"Roufas knows you're innocent. He was there when you were tested," Blue reminded Joker calmly, "He'll call Liza and Annie. He wouldn't hold this back from them, especially since they formed to bring you down. And once we go public with the knowledge, people will realize that you didn't hurt anyone purposely and that you made some mistakes. Everyone does. Besides, you barely hurt Emilia. There are men who beat their wives to death and walk free from it. You acted out of panic, not malice." Joker sighed and reluctantly agreed, but as they continued to close in on the IRPO building, he felt a knot in his stomach tighten with worry. So much of his life had been inspected and relived in the past two days, and though he was glad he was innocent, he felt paranoid. He wondered if everyone would look at his life for any failings or gaps they could use to imprison him.

"So, how long until we reach the offices?" Darius asked Fuse, when Joker remained silent for more than five minutes. Fuse looked over at the radar in the open pilot's chamber, and then looked back at Darius.

"An hour at the most. Gives us some time to get some more facts straight before we present your case to the board," Fuse replied, "Darius, what do you remember about your aunt? Any facts or details might help us stop her." Darius considered the grim question, and then nodded, sitting down. It was be hard to recollect the cruelty their aunt had served them, but he would do it.

"She's not a big woman, first of all. You wouldn't expect her to be capable of hurting people, but she can inflict some serious mental wounds on anyone," Darius began, slowly rocking back and forth in his seat, "She's not tall. She's probably smaller than 5'5, and she usually wears horn-rimmed glasses, like a school teacher."

"School teacher?" Blue inquired, "Did she actually teach anyone?"

"No. She was an odd bird, though, but she knew the dark business better than anyone," Darius replied, "And she knew just how to push your buttons to make you do her dirty work. Verbal assaults, put downs, lies, anything mental and emotional." Joker shivered as he heard his brother explain, as he too had painful memories of their aunt. Memories that he didn't want to recall.

"Did she ever physically hurt you two?" Fuse asked, and then added, "If there aren't physical markings, she could lie her way out of this unless we find solid proof." Darius's lips tightened and he shook his head stiffly.

"No. There was never anything physical unless you tried to get out. Then she'd kill you," Darius replied angrily, "Our dad was lucky he escaped the first time. But she's smarter than that. She'd never inflict anything you could see right away." Fuse became worried over this, as he was never good with dealing with psychological battles. He exchanged a nervous glance with Blue.

"Think we could make a case with this?" Fuse asked. Blue bit his lip. It was a tough one to make. Without physical proof, and with only statements from two perceived criminals, no one would believe them. No one except the people in Fuse's squadron.

"I'm not sure," Blue replied just as quietly, "They don't seem to be lying, though. They admitted fully to attacking someone, but each one had a reason that had stories to back them up. Maybe a psychological test would help, though. We could see if the aunt did any permanent damage." Fuse nodded, considering that. It was a good possibility, and it might be the only one that would convince the board of their case. He turned back to Darius.

"Would you consent to taking a psychological test once we arrive at IRPO?" Fuse asked him. He raised a confused eyebrow and sat up.

"What for?" Darius countered, though he was kind about it.

"We want to see if your aunt put any permanent mental marks on you both," Blue explained, "It'll help us keep her in jail if anything shows up." He made care to not make it seem like they'd catch her for certain if they did take the test. Darius whispered something to Joker, and after a small discussion, they both nodded.

"We'll take the test," Joker said firmly, "I'm not sure what you'll find, but I want to help."

"I'll do it for mom and dad," Darius added, much more serious, "That woman needs to be locked up for over a thousand years for what she did to our parents." Fuse nodded, and slowly, the plane began to descend, as IRPO came into view. Only the sounds of the guards murmuring to each other disturbed the plane, as the four fell silent, watching as the plane came closer and closer to the landing runway. It rolled into the quad, and as soon as the door opened to let everyone out, Blue saw Rouge waiting for them, file in hand. He looked upset.

"Rouge?" Blue called, jumping off of the plane, "What's wrong? You look really angry." Rouge nodded, and handed the file to Blue, who in turn handed it to Fuse, who gave Rouge a questioning look.

"Rita Swan is suing us for the murder of her daughter, Elena," Rouge replied furiously, and Fuse's eyes widened as he read the report, "She swears she made the report on her missing daughter days ago, but she's suing us for not finding her. Boss, I looked in the files. No one remembered her filing a report, and there's nothing in the computer databank." Fuse swore angrily and ran inside the building, which Blue assumed was to clear the matter up. Joker walked up, unable to believe what he heard.

"How did she know our cousin died?" Joker asked frantically, and Rouge looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. Blue quickly explained everything to Rouge, who nodded, but looked at Joker and Darius with awe.

"You guys are amazing!" he exclaimed, and Joker smiled, "I mean, scary, but amazing at the same time! It's like an adventure just learning about you guys!" Darius laughed, and they all walked into the building, where they soon found that everything was bustling with activity, though no one looked cheerful about it at all.

"Rouge, what's going on here?" Blue asked, as Joker and Darius simply watched with detached interest.

"Like I said, Rita Swan's suing us," Rouge replied bitterly, "Everyone's in a panic, especially since I placed the file for her on the IRPO website to alert everyone. We all know she's dangerous now. Most of them are probably fearing for their lives with have the terror she's pulled." Darius snorted angrily as he watched many of the workers run from their desks to a copier, and then back, only to slam into each other in fear, not caring what was knocked over.

"This is pretty much the terror she caused any of her clients," Darius replied flatly, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "It looks like she knows what's happening, though how she does is still confusing me. Anyone related to her working here?"

"Aside from you and Joker, no," Rouge replied, and then added, "And we already know you wouldn't tip her off." Joker scowled, wondering just how Rita knew about the IRPO's involvement. Fuse, however, seemed determined to get their case solved, and before Darius could ask another question, he led them down the hall into one of the interrogation rooms. It was quiet, and though the walls were gray, and the chairs made of metal, both brothers seemed calm as they sat down. Fuse took out a pad of paper and a pen, and sat down across from them.

"All right, if we're going to beat her, we need your statements as quickly as possible. Joker, since you're the one who led us to your brother, you'll go first," Fuse said seriously, and when Joker nodded, continued, "What is the extent that Rita has shown of her cruelty to you?" Joker sighed, and looked down, Darius patting his back.

"It's okay, Steven. Tell him," Darius said.

"Well, she used to call me useless all the time," Joker replied, "Like I said, it was never anything physical, but she's call me names. Say I was terribly useless and a waste of time. She used to threaten me when I was little, and mom and dad weren't around. I guess I got scared of her pretty quickly." Fuse jotted this all down, and Darius looked at Joker sympathetically.

"Anything else? Did anyone from her business hurt you?" Fuse asked. Joker shook his head.

"No. I was an asset to her. She wouldn't hurt me if it would hurt her business," Joker replied bitterly, "As long as I was healthy, I'd make her money with her little errands." Again, Fuse jotted this down.

"What sort of errands were those?" Fuse asked.

"Mostly theft and bribery. Stuff I never thought of doing on my own," Joker replied, "Oftentimes, I'd try and talk to her clients, reason with them. Usually, it worked, but the few times it didn't… I usually botched when reasoning didn't work. I didn't want to scam people out of their money. It's wrong." Fuse smiled and wrote what Joker stated down.

"All right, just one more question and we can move onto Darius," Fuse said, and then asked, "Did you ever have any plots to kill her?" Joker's shoulders slumped.

"No, but I wanted to," Joker replied sadly, "She used to make me so angry. And she was horrible to my mother. But I never planned anything. Just an "I really wish she would die" thought every once in a while." Fuse nodded, wrote the statement down, and turned to Darius, who gave Joker a pat on the back.

"Same questions for you, Darius," Fuse said, "Extent of damage?"

"Pretty much the same thing Steven went through," Darius replied, crossing his arms, "Though I was more rebellious. She slapped me a few times across the face if I told her to screw off. But all that did was make me hate her more. It never broke me." Fuse snorted with amusement, wrote away, and looked at Darius again.

"I applaud your nerve," he stated, smiling, "That answers my second question, too. Now, what sort of errands did you have to do?" Darius's frown worsened, and Joker looked concerned when he noticed this. Silence continued for minutes until Fuse said, "Darius, you need to answer me."

"…prostitution," Darius whispered, "Threatening lives, drugging up clients… terrible things. I lost my virginity when I was 16 years old." Fuse dropped his pen, looking at Darius with shock and worry. Joker's eyes widened and tears welled up.

"Dar, is that really true?" Joker whispered in disbelief. Darius glanced at him and nodded, shivering.

"It's true. She'll deny it, but just take a DNA test. You'll see I'm telling the truth," Darius said. Fuse nodded and, picking up his pen, wrote that all down. A DNA test wasn't needed; he knew Darius wouldn't lie just to put himself through hell.

"Did you ever want to kill her?" Fuse finally asked. Darius nodded, anger seething as he recalled the years he spent in her service.

"Yes. Many, many times, I'd want to take a knife and stab it until she bled to death," Darius said openly, "I never did. I was sure she was immortal, and I couldn't put Steven through hell if she managed to live. But I surely wanted to, and the thoughts never went away. They became so much worse as time went on. Especially when I found out that she recruited Steven." Grimly, Fuse wrote that down, reminding Darius that it wouldn't look good in court, but under the circumstances, the jury might consider it warranted.

"Now, just as a formality, if you saw her in this room, what would you say or do?" Fuse asked, and it was aimed at both brothers. Darius looked away, thinking of the many things he'd do to his aunt. Joker looked down.

"I'd probably tell her that she deserves to go to jail if the jurors ruled it that way," Joker said quietly, "At the very least, she deserves that. I'm no advocate of jail. Jail sucks, but she deserves it. Then I'd walk away." Fuse nodded and wrote that, then turned to Darius, who still refused to look at anyone else in the room.

"I'd tell her to rot in hell," Darius replied bitterly, scowling at the ground, "Then I'd flip her off." Fuse snorted again, and wrote that down. Then he put the pad away.

"Well, that's everything we need from you both," he said, standing up, "Darius, you've got a cold attitude. You ever thought about joining the police force?" Joker looked at Darius with amusement, and Darius laughed, shaking his head as they both stood up as well.

"No offense, officer, but I don't think anyone from my family should be in the police force," Darius replied, as Fuse opened the door, "We might scare everyone else away." Fuse nodded, and they walked down the hall, back into the main offices where people had continued to run around in a frenzied chaotic flurry. The security team, having been called to control the riot, seemed to be having very little luck in doing so as multiple workers, cops and executives alike, bowled them over trying to move files or head to the quad. The only people who weren't rushing around were Blue, Rouge, Red, and Emelia, who were waiting in Fuse's office. Curious, Fuse walked inside, with Darius and Joker close behind.

"What's the report here, boys?" Fuse asked, referring to Blue and Rouge. Blue was printing something out with Fuse's computer and handed it to him. Fuse glanced at it. It was a sheet of facts and numbers. Questioningly, he looked at Blue, raising a confused eyebrow.

"Those are the accounts Rita seized years ago when she imprisoned Joker's family," Blue replied, and turn flipped the monitor to show them something else, "Take a look at this. In that year alone, she took hold of seven large-scale bank accounts. All of them had something of value, but very little in the way of credits." Fuse's confusion turned to suspicious as Blue explained.

"What the hell could this woman be looking for?" Fuse asked.

"I don't know, but judging by these numbers, getting a court order on her won't be easy," Blue replied, "She has billions upon billions of credits, sir. She could bribe her way out of trouble if she wanted. She's a huge flight risk." Fuse sighed, looking over the list again. The numbers climbed to an unrealistic rate, and Fuse was surprised that they hadn't known about her sooner. Surely someone with this amount of wealth would've attracted attention.

"What do we do to bring her in?" Red asked as Emelia flipped through another stack Blue had printed out. Fuse bit his lip, setting the file down.

"There doesn't look like much we can do, boy," Fuse replied regretfully, "This woman's a time bomb waiting to be set off. You two," he turned to Darius and Joker, "Do you have any idea as to how we can get her in?" Joker shook his head, but Darius seemed hesitant to answer. After another prompting from the old cop, Darius grimly explained.

"Yeah. She has another sister who's in her business. Aunty Maria," Darius replied, "She never wanted to help Rita, but she didn't have a choice once grandpa named Rita the heir of the house. Rita put Maria into the business, but I'm sure aunt Maria will help." Blue and Rouge glanced at each other, and Fuse considered the option. It was a risky one at best. For all he knew, Maria might be in on the whole thing, but they had to try anything.

"How do we get to this aunt Maria of yours?" Fuse asked, eyeing Darius carefully.

"We'll need to get into Rita's house," Darius replied, "She keeps aunt Maria in the basements. I think she lives in Nelson, unless she moved." Blue looked at Fuse, as Fuse continued to think about the suggestion.

"Well, sir? Is it worth a shot?" Blue asked. Fuse sighed heavily and finally nodded.

"It's a big risk, but we'll go," Fuse replied, standing up, "If only to save Maria from Rita. Now, Darius, I'm going to ask you and Steven to come with us. You both know Rita's house, and we need a guide."

"We're on it!" they both exclaimed, a new determination seeming to give Joker renewed vigor despite his cold. Fuse smiled, and turned to Blue, Red, Rouge, and Emelia.

"You all should come, too," Fuse said, after a moment of consideration, "The more we have Rita surrounded, the better our chances. Now, where's that crazy hippie?" He looked around, finally noticing that Roufas wasn't around, and Red pointed to outside. Fuse looked out the window, and sure enough, Roufas was silencing the frenzying workers outside by screaming something unintelligible into a large megaphone.

"You have to be kidding me," Fuse mumbled, a drop of sweat rolling down his face, "Well, we'll let the little nutcase be. Blue, Rouge, go get anything from your office that might help us make a case with her. Notes, files, anything at all. And get some tools in case we need to break and enter." Fuse walked out of the office, only popping his head in when Rouge called him.

"Where are you going, boss?" Rouge asked. Fuse frowned.

"I'm telling our bosses that we're heading out to directly… disarm Rita," Fuse replied, and then forcefully said, "Move out!" Then he disappeared again. Blue and Rouge practically jumped out of their seats, and after a brief talking with the others, equally split up the responsibilities. Red and Emelia were going to get any tools they'd need, as Darius and Joker ran to the quad to make sure the plane was in good condition for the flight. Blue and Rouge rushed hastily toward the elevator, slamming the button with excessive force, nearly breaking it. They leapt inside as soon as the elevator door swung open. Though there were already a few people crammed into the small space, no one else seemed to notice, too wrapped up in their own frenzy over Rita's lawsuit, which was growing quite rapidly as graph alarms went off as a warning to their slowly draining funds.

"Blue, this is getting pretty serious, bro," Rouge replied, as the elevator sped up the floors, "What did you and Fuse find in the base?"

"A whole bunch of nothing," Blue said grimly, crossing his arms, "We found Darius, but there was nothing that pointed directly to Rita. He didn't have any files or folders. Just an old family album." Rouge glanced at his brother, perking an eyebrow.

"A family album? Why would he have that?" Rouge asked, and when Blue gave him an annoyed look, he added, "I know _why_ he'd have one, but more like, why would he keep it with him if he knew we were coming after him?" Blue blinked, suddenly thinking about it. It did seem to be an odd thing to keep when you were on the run, and then Blue remembered that Darius knew Joker was with them.

"He probably wanted Joker to see it," Blue finally replied, "After all, there were a lot of memories in that book. Joker was happy when he saw it. He told us all about his family before they were involved in the crime. Rouge, there was no way these people were evil until Rita came along." Rouge nodded, and then frowned. Neither he nor Blue remembered much of their childhood. Rouge remembered following the nursemaids around often, helping them take care of the littler kids, and Blue remembered staying in his room all the time, his only friend being Rouge. And only Blue remembered their parents, who had died just a little after the experiment on what was once Aubergine.

"Blue, what were mom and dad like?" Rouge asked suddenly, as the elevator let them out on their floor. They walked to their office, and Blue didn't answer until they were safely inside.

"Our parents? Well, they loved us very much. They were against splitting us into two," Blue replied, "Mom was an apprentice enchanter. She loved enchanting our toys to float around our crib when we were a baby. And dad was a really powerful sorcerer. He used to make funny shadow puppets and then bring them to life to make us laugh." Rouge smiled. He couldn't recall any of those memories, but he could imagine the happiness.

"Did they still love us after we were split up?" Rouge asked quietly. Blue, who had been searching through his desk, dropped the stapler and looked at his brother. Rouge had never sounded so afraid of an answer. Blue couldn't take seeing the sadness and fear in his brother's eyes.

"Of course they did," Blue replied calmly, smiling with the most compassion that Rouge had ever seen, "They were so proud. Mom always said you'd make a wonderful nurseman. You used to love playing with the younger kids." Rouge smiled. He did recall that moment with their parents. It was a rare moment. They were sitting in the family common room. Their mother had been knitting, listening as Rouge told her how the younger kids asked him to teach them a new spell. Their father was tutoring Blue with a healing spell.

"I remember that," Rouge said happily, "Dad always said you'd be the next Merlin. He was so proud when you managed to set the curtains on fire." Blue laughed, nodding. He had been only seven years old, and one day, he and Rouge had fought over a pillow, which they had ripped. Out of pure anger, Blue had somehow set something ablaze. He was terrified his father would hit him, but instead, his father was proud.

"Even mom was happy that I could use magic," Blue replied, a slim smile crossing his lips, "I loved them so much, Rouge."

"Me too. You think they'd still be proud of us?" Rouge asked, as Blue picked up the stapler and put it back, "Even after we nearly killed each other?" Blue stopped, and thought about it. He had never thought how their parents would think of them. A pang of guilt shot itself at his heart, and he looked down for a moment.

"…I'm sure of it," Blue said, looking up and smiling confidently, "They love us no matter what happened, Rouge. We're brothers. I think they would've almost expected us to try and kill each other." At that, both of them laughed hysterically. Most boys tended to argue in the Magic Kingdom, trying to prove who was the strongest. To not fight at some point in your life was… odd. However, as their laughter died down, the room dimmed, catching Blue's attention. Rouge was still laughing, but Blue watched the sky become darker, as though a cloud had started to block the sun. Then, thick clouds of black began to stretch along, lowering the temperature.

"Rouge, stop," Blue said, running to the window, "What the hell is that?" Rouge stopped laughing, his expression quickly turning to worry at the tone in Blue's voice. Concerned, he joined his brother at the sill and looked out. The sky was quickly turning into a deep, vacuous sea of black, and thunder roared a good distance away. Lights were flashing here and there in the fluffy substance, giving the appearance of a large, fluffy ship.

"I… I have no idea," Rouge said, as lightning flashed, "Blue, do you feel that?" He was shivering now, and Blue glanced over, nodding.

"If you mean the sudden thickness of magical energy, then yes, I can feel it," Blue replied. Rouge shuddered, and soon they heard curses erupt from other offices on their floor as computers shut down and lights blew. Sparks flew from the outlets, and all Blue or Rouge could do was look around as the power slowly cut out, plunging the headquarters into darkness.

"Come on," Blue said, grabbing Rouge's wrists and dragging him out of their office, "We need to find Fuse. This is bad." Rouge silently agreed, but as they went to the elevator, they found it shut down. Blue banged on the door, but it didn't open at all. Rouge looked out the window again as Blue continued to pound at the door. The sky was completely black now, the only lights being the flashing ones in amidst the thick clouds. Something was very, very wrong.

"What sort of dark magic is this?"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, with Darius and Joker both recruited into the IRPO force, the case seems to be coming to a close. Unfortunately, now a new problem seems to be interfering, as well as Rita's lawsuit. Are the two connected, and how is it possible if they are? Can Blue get to Fuse? Are the others in danger? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	20. Finding Aunt Maria

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and it's still a classic.

"Blue, I think you'd better look at this," Rouge said, shivering. Blue, who had successfully snapped off the elevator button at this point, turned around. He saw that Rouge was scared of something, and with concern growing in his heart, he walked over to see what was wrong. Looking outside, he saw the black clouds. He also saw the wind rush across the courtyard, breaking branches off of the trees and scattering a few panicked workers as they tried to run inside from the sudden storm. Lightning flashed again, and rain began to fall in steady streams.

"Oh my lord," Blue gasped, as the clouds began to cover the sky over the building, "Rouge, is there any possibility this is a coincidence?"

"That's like asking if Mystics like humans," Rouge replied, glancing at his brother, "No, Blue. This isn't natural. But what could create this?" Blue bit his lip. He had never encountered this before, and it filled him with terror, even despite having been in hell itself. His mind scanned through any tomes or scriptures he had read, but not one of them pointed to a scenario like this.

"It doesn't matter. We need to find Fuse," Blue said. Knowing the elevator was broken, Blue decided the stairs had to do for now. He ran ahead, but when he didn't hear Rouge behind him, he looked back and said, "Rouge, come on. This is serious."

"But we still haven't gotten any supplies from our office," Rouge reminded him, "Fuse said…"

"Rouge, it doesn't matter! Forget the supplies and let's move!" Blue exclaimed in exasperation, grabbing Rouge's wrists and dragging him down the rest of the hallway. Because it was dark, Blue kept seeing flickers of shadows moving across the wall, which made him uneasy, but they were simply shadows on the wall. Finally, he reached the stairway door, and threw it open. Together with Rouge, they bounded down the stairs, crashing through the first floor door. Scrambling up, they ran across the front lobby, and found Fuse looking out the entrance doors.

"Fuse!" Rouge exclaimed, "Fuse, we've got a problem! Everything's…"

"I know, boy. That's what I'm looking at," Fuse said grimly, narrowing his eyes, "This storm's interfering with all of the electrical currents. None of our radars are working, and without them, we can't find Rita's house. Do you two know what's causing it?"

"All we know is that it's some form of magic," Blue replied, trying to ignore the shivers going up his spine, "But we have no idea what's causing it. But it has to be big to create that." Rouge nodded, looking into the vacuous darkness. It completely stretched across the horizon, and he guessed it covered most of the world now, but without any way of knowing, he kept the comment to himself.

"Maybe it's coming from the clouds itself? Like some sort of propellant force?" Rouge suggested. Blue looked down, considering it. He didn't understand how any mere mortal had that amount of power to summon such a massive storm, even if they were Mystic. Something had to be assisting them.

"If we could get up there safely, we could see," Blue sighed, turning to Fuse, "Can we fly in the storm?" Fuse's already gaunt face turned much grimmer as he let out a heavy sigh.

"We have no choice. Rita's a terrible threat," Fuse replied regretfully, "It's either we go after her or she cripples IRPO in just a few hours. I'm just hoping the plane can hold up. I haven't heard back from Darius or Joker yet." Blue looked down, wondering what could've been keeping them down in the quad for so long. Just as he was about to speak, suggesting they investigate, Emelia and Red came back with a medical kit.

"This is all we could find in the panic," Red stated, and then looked up at the sky, "Whoa! What the hell is that?"

"From what Blue and I know, it's dark magic," Rouge replied as Fuse took the medical kit with reserved frustration. Their supplies were pretty much a pile of nothing, and Fuse didn't know just how long it would be to pick up anything on the road. Assuming they could even get onto the road. Blue sensed Fuse's growing worry.

"Let's go to the quad and make sure they're all right," Blue suggested, referring to Joker and Darius. Fuse nodded, and together, the five of them pushed their way out of the lobby and toward a long hallway leading to a dark chamber at the other end. Blue was surprised by how empty the tunnel toward the quad was, but he didn't comment. The only noise, aside from the slowly muffling murmurs in the lobby, came from their boots as they clacked across the tile flooring. The lack of any light made movement slow to avoid getting hurt, but eventually they made it into the chamber. Darius stood with a flashlight, pointing into the plane as Joker climbed out, cursing. He was covered in oil, which Blue knew wasn't a good sign.

"You all right, boy?" Fuse asked, raising a perplexed brow as he walked over, "What're you doing in there?"

"Trying to see if I can fix the engine," Joker replied, jumping down, "I tried starting it up to get it ready, but it's not doing anything, sir. I thought maybe if I looked under the hood, I'd figure out what's wrong, but the engine exploded on me. I wouldn't go in there." Fuse looked at Joker critically, a small part of him still wondering if maybe they were joking, but Joker looked earnest. And he was covered in oil, which could've ignited in there. Fuse sighed, his lips thinning.

"Well, I have to get in there if we plan on getting that bitch in chains before everyone here dies of heart failure, so stay back," Fuse said sternly, and jumped into the plane. Swears and angry cursing followed, but they also heard him banging on something, trying to patch it up. The smell of diesel and oil was incredibly strong, but they had to bear it as they simply stood, waiting.

"What could be wrong with the plane?" Emelia asked as Darius handed Joker a towel, which he used to get as much oil off as he could.

"My guess is, whatever's going on out there is affecting everything that runs on a power source," Joker suggested, running the towel through his now-slick, black-streaked hair, shivering at the touch, "I thought something smelled wrong when I went in, but I didn't know what to look for."

"I find it awfully convenient that we didn't have this problem until you both examined the plane," Roufas said, walking in, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, "You didn't do anything, did you?" Darius blinked, shocked at the accusation, and Joker's calm expression turned to outrage, giving him a truly menacing appearance. He clenched his fists.

"What're you trying to say, buddy!?" Joker demanded, "You think we rigged the plane!? Why would I do that? I was _inside_ of it as it set off!"

"Still, I can't help but have this suspicion about you both," Roufas replied, his frown deepening, "How can we be so sure you're not jostling us about as your aunt destroys the place from within?" Darius's eyes widened in disbelief, and Joker was ready to throttle Roufas.

"_WHAT!?_" Joker screamed, his body shaking, "You think we'd _HELP_ that horrible woman!? She _TORTURED_ us! If anything, we both hope she's dead! How DARE you accuse us of trying to kill you all when we know you'll help us out! You think we're just worthless piles of filth!?" Emelia's eyes teared up as she watched the fight continue.

"Well, based on your past offenses, it's hard to think otherwise," Roufas stated simply.

"_I WAS SET UP!_" Joker cried, and was about to lunge at Roufas when Emelia stood in front of him, Roufas about to throw his own punch as well. Both stopped dead in their tracks.

"Stop it, both of you!" she cried, "This isn't the time to be fighting each other! Roufas, Steven didn't rig the plane! He couldn't have! If he did, why would he douse himself in oil?" Joker looked down, trying to control himself. His vision was distorted from anger, but he knew Emelia was on his side. To his surprise, that comforted him. Roufas stared at Emelia with wide eyes.

"Emelia, how could you defend this jerk? He killed Ren! Accidentally, but even so, he still attacked you later and then ran for it! How could you forgive him?" Roufas asked, taking off his sunglasses. Emelia looked down, and then glanced at Joker. He looked away, obviously the subject still bothering him.

"Because I know what it's like to live in fear of something, Roufas," Emelia replied softly, "Steven was in a state of complete panic. How can I not, knowing that he's truly distraught over what happened?" She smiled as she turned back to Joker, "Steven, I really do forgive you. It's all right, and… I'm sorry that everyone else thinks you're a horrible person. But you're not, and you need to know that I know that." Joker blinked, unable to comprehend the kindness Emelia was showing him. Slowly, his own smile came back and he nodded.

"Thank you," he said, "That really means a lot to me." Roufas bit his lip, as Fuse came back from inside the plane. His suit was stained, but he didn't appear to really care as he threw down a wrench. Everyone turned their attention to him.

"Well, the plane's fixed," Fuse replied proudly, "The cap to the oil chamber fell off, that's all. Now come on. We need to get moving. Just got another buzz from the boss." Quickly, everyone climbed into the plane, Roufas pulling the door shut when he was the last to enter. Blue and Fuse immediately took the front seats, with everyone else seated behind them. When they were all strapped in, Fuse pushed a button and the plane roared as the quad's exit door opened. Then, the plane swooshed out and into the air, diving into the black clouds like a bullet through butter. Amber flashes flared through the windows, and Rouge had to shield his eyes when they came too close to one. Blue's body stiffened.

"So, what did the boss want?" Blue asked, maneuvering the plane so that if the lights did flash again, it wouldn't be directly in anyone's eyes. He didn't trust those lights for a second. Fuse folded up the landing wheels before replying.

"She wanted to remind me that we only have a certain amount of time before IRPO is complete drained of funds," Fuse explained grimly, "At this rate, we have about two hours to find Rita's house and get aunt Maria out before HQ has no money left."

"What happens after that?" Blue inquired, as they zipped past the clouds.

"I don't know, soldier," Fuse replied regretfully, "And part of me doesn't want to know. But something will definitely happen, I can be sure of that." Blue nodded, and let Fuse continue with what he was doing. Calmly, he turned back toward Darius, who raised a perplexed brow.

"Do you or your brother remember where Rita lives?" Blue asked calmly. Darius looked at Joker, who shook his head.

"Steven doesn't, but I do," Darius replied, "She lives near the central part of Nelson, in one of the bigger manors. At least, she did. I'm not sure if she moved, but if she's still there, she's somewhere near the manor district."

"Any particular reason she'd move to Nelson?" Rouge asked, "I mean, no offense, but that place is crawling with crime scenes. What would a high-end businesswoman like her do there?" Blue nodded slightly, as Rouge had a point. He had read some of the older case files, and saw that Fuse had to go there quite often a few years back to break up two or three different gangs. Darius snorted sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"There used to be a Gold Ingot smuggling business somewhere in Nelson," Darius explained, frowning, "My guess is, she moved to be close to that business. That's probably how she makes most of her money."

"So it's another thing we can bust her on!" Red exclaimed happily, "That's a good thing, right?" He looked around, but no one seemed to be agreeing. Even Alkaiser shook his head when Red silently asked him for an opinion. Fuse looked in one of the small mirrors toward him.

"Unfortunately, we need solid proof that she's actually smuggling Gold Ingot," Fuse stated seriously, "Something I highly doubt she has just lying around. And because ingot is the currency used by gnomes, who're greedy little bastards, they won't help us nail Rita on it."

"Why not?" Red asked, his mouth slanting into a small frown.

"Because whether she smuggles it to them, or from them, they still make money nonetheless. They won't do anything that puts their gold in danger, whether it be actual gold or credits," Fuse replied bitterly, "These illegal businesses really do stick together, even if they don't see it that way." Silently, Blue agreed. After that, the plane ride was painfully silent, save for the roar of the engine as they sped through the dark clouds. Blue saw that the farther they went, the more the clouds seemed to thin, and eventually just evaporate into air. He began to wonder if the clouds were only gathered at IRPO, and if it was simply a storm or an actual threat. The rain had long stopped, something he didn't think would happen in a storm, but he couldn't truly be sure. And soon enough, the beautiful ocean came into view, with the blue sky shining as they finally passed the clouded area. The sudden brightness blinded everyone, as their gasps of shock filled the plane.

"Damn it, that sun's bright!" Red yelled, shielding his eyes, "Roufas, did you bring any more of your sunglasses?"

"Nope," Roufas replied, smirking. He took off his own glasses and cleaned them, if only to show them off further. Fuse quickly and silently flipped him off, which he didn't appear to have seen. Blue snickered quietly, unable to keep his laughter in, but at the same time not wanting to alert Roufas's attention. He looked out the window at the shimmering sea, taking in how magnificent it was and how deep its color became. He felt he could get lost in it, and judging by Rouge's expression as he too looked out the window, he was thinking the same thing.

"What ocean is this?" Emelia asked, looking out her own window, "It's really nice."

"I think it's called the Prism Sea, but I haven't looked at a map in ages," Joker replied, joining her, "But… man, it's been years since I've seen such a breathtaking sight. I always vowed that after I got married and had a family, I'd take them all on a cruise that took us across this vast ocean." Emelia nodded, and then once again, the trip became silent as everyone became slowly engulfed in the ocean's beauty. As they flew by, the angle of the sun actually changed the color of the waters, from a rippling blue, to a vast, sparkling green, and then to a slight pink as the sun began to slowly set. Finally, that pink turned to a deep, deep orange. But no land had come into sight, and they were flying for probably well over two hours now. Blue didn't know whether not hearing from their boss was a good thing or not, but he assumed it was bad. IRPO couldn't last much longer, and he knew this well.

"How long until we reach Nelson?" he asked worriedly, and when Fuse glanced at him, he seemed to guess why Blue was so anxious.

"Hopefully, not long. But this damn ocean is so huge, so who knows where we are?" Fuse replied grimly, checking the clock, "I'm getting worried, though. It's been nearly three hours and no one's radioed us." Blue nodded, sighing as he picked up the radio, looking at it. He wanted to know what was happening. He wanted to know everyone back at the office was all right. Just as he put the radio down, it buzzed. Quickly, he picked it up.

"Hello, this is agent Blue speaking," Blue said quickly, "Is everything all right down there?"

"Blue?" Doll's voice came, and when he asked if she was all right, she said, "Yes. But we have new information on Rita. We know where the money from IRPO is being funneled." Blue's eyes widened, and a smile crept across his face. That was better news than he thought.

"That's great! But how did you find out?" Blue asked, trying his best not to let his excitement seep through. Fuse glanced at him, raising a confused eyebrow.

"One of our lab techs slipped a tracker into one of the bills she seized. We're tracing it as we speak," Doll explained calmly, and Blue heard furious typing in the background, "It's going into an account at the National Bank in Shrike." Blue's eyebrows perked with disbelief. How could she have an account in Shrike?

"Doll, she lives in Nelson," Blue replied flatly, "How can she have an account in Shrike if she's in Nelson?" He heard the typing stop, and could sense that Doll was just as shocked as he was. She bit her lip.

"I'm going to guess it's some sort of back-up account," Doll finally concluded, "I'll send a squad over there to freeze the account. That should stop, or even reverse, the flow of the money. You just focus on getting to Nelson."

"All right," Blue replied calmly, "Call if something else happens." Doll agreed, and they both hung up. As he put the radio away, Blue sighed, and Fuse glanced at him again.

"What was that about?" he asked sternly, raising a bemused eyebrow.

"Doll found out that Rita has a separate account in Shrike that she's using to dump all of the money from IRPO into," Blue replied, leaning back into his seat, "She's sending a squad out to freeze it." Fuse nodded, and a wide grin graced his face as he turned the plane a bit, and this time, land came into view.

"That's our Doll! She's always been good at fixing technical problems," Fuse stated almost a little too proudly, and then added, "By the way, Nelson's coming into view. We'll be landing in a few minutes." Blue nodded, and slowly, Fuse began to descend the plane onto an old, abandoned pier just a bit outside of the city. It was difficult, as the pier was very small and hard to see amidst the shadows created from the two warehouses on either of its side, but Fuse managed, and soon enough, everyone was climbing out of the plane and onto the wooden dock.

"So, where do we go from here?" Roufas asked, looking at Fuse with a mixture of curiosity and worry. Fuse bit his lip, trying to think, but it was Darius who had a plan.

"We'll have to sneak through the manor district and into aunt Rita's house," Darius replied, as they walked down the road, away from the pier, "Chances are, she's expecting us, so the front door isn't a good option at all for obvious reasons. We'll have to sneak around and get in from another way." As they came closer to the city, whereas the streetlamps began illuminating the entire place, Darius lowered his voice so that unwanted guests couldn't hear him.

"Is there a back entrance we can use?" Emelia asked, as they ran across a large parking lot for the local bar. Darius shook his head.

"Not one that she won't hear when we open it," Darius replied, "We'll need to use a window or a basement trapdoor to get in. She should have one of those." Within minutes, they had crossed into the manor district, which was encased in a large, brick wall. Rouge guessed it was for security as they reached a large, wrought-iron gate. Red shook it, but it didn't budge.

"Are we going to have to climb this thing?" he asked, as Blue bent down to examine the lock. Darius nodded, grabbing onto one of the holes that could've been mistaken for a foothold.

"Yup," he replied, pulling himself up. Joker and Emelia both followed, and when he discovered that there was no way to get inside without the gate key, Blue led everyone else up onto the wall as well. They all jumped and dashed through the small yards until Darius turned up onto a walkway, toward a trapdoor. He turned toward the others and grinned as he said, "She kept it unlocked! We can get in through here!" He was about to pull the doors opened, but Fuse quickly stopped him.

"Stop, boy!" Fuse exclaimed, and Darius froze, "Don't you find it a little suspicious that she left the basement open?" Darius bit his lip. That did seem rather odd, and now he was glad Fuse stopped him. He could've set off an alarm. Quietly, Fuse walked to the back door, and touched it. No alarms sounded, but when he went to open it, the door was locked.

"We can't go in there, can we?" Joker whispered, as Blue tinkered with some small device. Fuse sighed, looking down. He knew that was an incredible risk, but what other alternative did they have? His choice solidified when Blue spoke.

"We have no choice. There's an alarm that'll set off as soon as we open the basement door. The only security on the house are the basic locks that can be picked," Blue replied, "I think we should take it." Everyone turned to Fuse, whose lips thinned. He nodded, and took out his blaster, setting it to a small laser mode. He carefully aimed for the keyhole and fired the laser. Blue heard a faint click, and the door swung open. Sweeping the area with his eyes, Fuse silently ran in, everyone else behind him. The entrance led to a spacious, dim kitchen, and though they were quiet, their footsteps made incredible echoes on the marble floor. Fuse turned off his blaster, and turned on a flashlight, looking around. There was no sign of movement in the kitchen, or in the halls leading into the entrance hall. He glanced at Darius.

"All right, we're in. Where's the basement?" he asked. Darius motioned for them to remain silent, and led them toward a dark corner of the kitchen hidden from the hallways. A wooden door stood, unlocked, and Darius quietly opened it. It made a slight squeak, but then was completely still. Fuse flashed the light onto the wooden stairs leading downward as Blue shivered. The basement was freezing, and he suddenly feared that Aunt Maria might not even be alive. When no opposition existed, Fuse waved everyone down the stairs. They ran, with Roufas making sure the door was shut so that no one heard, and Darius ran over to a doorway cloaked in darkness. He flipped on the light switch, and Blue saw that the other room was actually a metallic corridor with doors all along the right side. Darius went to the second room, and knocked.

"Aunt Maria? Are you in there?" Darius asked. At first, only rustling was heard, and Blue was wondering if she was in there. Then, a soft, shaky voice called out.

"Darius? Is that you, sweetie?" Darius's eyes watered as he heard the voice. It sounded sick. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. Angrily, Joker charged at it, knocking it down, ignoring how loud the crash was when it landed. In the room was nothing more than a mattress with rags, and Aunt Maria was lying in them, her own dress torn to pieces. Darius and Joker both ran in, trying to help her up. She felt unbelievably light in their arms.

"Aunt Maria, what happened to you!?" Joker asked, bringing her over to a chair, "Did Rita do this to you?" Aunt Maria looked over at Joker, and smiled genuinely.

"Steven, you've grown so much since I saw you," she said happily, tears falling from her eyes, "How are you, sweetie? Did you get released from jail?" Joker looked down, unable to get through to his aunt. Blue took off his overcoat and wrapped it around Aunt Maria as Darius seated her. Rouge took his coat and handed it to her to use as a blanket. Darius knelt in front of her.

"Aunt Maria, this is serious. Did Rita put you in there?" he asked sternly. When Aunt Maria nodded, he added, "We're here to help you, auntie." Aunt Maria smiled again, and then gasped, pointing to behind Darius. Everything went completely silent, save for Joker's scream of terror. Looking behind him, Darius growled angrily. A short, stern woman with rimmed glasses and a beige and red dress stood behind him, her hands angrily on her hips.

"And where would you be taking my sister, may I ask you, Darius?" she asked in a dangerously sweet voice. Darius's eyes narrowed into a hateful glare, and Joker clenched his fists.

"Anywhere away from you!" Joker spat, and Darius turned sharply to his brother. Rita raised an annoyed eyebrow, at first unable to recognize Joker, and then she laughed, shaking her head.

"Ah, little Steven. Such a useless associate in my business, but such a lovable part of my family," Rita said calmly, "Why do you think you can walk in and take my sister away?"

"How about because you're a crazy nutcase who's trying to destroy everything around you?" Rouge countered, and Red laughed hysterically. Darius hid a snicker, but shook his head at Rouge, signaling to not make the matter worse. Rita scowled for a minute, and then her expression resumed its false gentleness.

"Oh, are you talking about that nasty business with IRPO?" she asked innocently, "That was just a misunderstanding."

"Stop spewing garbage at us, ma'am," Fuse said, stepping forward, "I'm Fuse, officer of IRPO's number one fleet. You're under arrest for extortion, abuse, and attempted murder on three charges. You have a right to remain silent, and if you're as smart as your nephews, you'll use that right and clamp it for once." Blue rolled his eyes, wishing Fuse would be a bit more professional when it came to arresting people. But at least they had her, as Fuse took out the handcuffs. When he went to put them on her, she kicked them out of his hands and threw him into the wall.

"You think you can just take me?" she asked, "Well, you'll have to do better than that." She took out a remote and pressed a button. Blue blinked, but at first, nothing appeared to happen. Then, a slow rumbling started, and finally, it felt as though an earthquake were hitting them. Blue held onto Rouge as Emelia grabbed Joker, all four of them falling to the ground. Fuse held onto the table, and Roufas helped Darius keep Maria safe. The rumbling continued, and the only noise that could penetrate it was Rita's laughter.

"What the hell is that!?" Red yelled, as plaster fell from one of the rooms. Blue squinted his eyes, but could see nothing from the dust kicking up from the floor.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling we're going to find out…"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, Blue, Rouge, and their squad of voluntary cops finally made it into Rita's house. And they found Aunt Maria, but with her mind obviously malnourished, she doesn't seem to be able to help them much. But they need to get her out of Rita's reach! What did Rita do, to cause such an earthquake to strike them? What is the true beast she summoned? And can they make an arrest on her, or will she simply kill them? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	21. Some things, Money can't buy

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, though I made up Rita, Maria, and the enemy our heroes will face.

The rumbling grew louder and louder, and the shocks from the floor were becoming steadily worse as Blue, Rouge, and their friends laid on the floor, trying to avoid the plaster and tiles as they fell off of the walls and floors, but the more he tried to ignore it, the worse the ominous feeling in Blue's stomach became. He could tell Rouge was getting worried as well, as his arms shook violently were Blue held them. The only thing that proved that they weren't dreaming was the shrill laughter from Rita.

"Damn it, we have to retreat!" Fuse yelled over the noise, but there was nowhere they could've gone. Rita blocked the entrance into the basement, and something unidentifiable was coming from the back room. Rita stopped laughing, her face distorted with an evil, wicked expression.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be going anywhere, officer," she said, pointing to the back room. Everyone turned, and Maria screamed. A very large machine had appeared, its rumbling as loud as Blue could've born. It resembled a battle tank, though not nearly as large, with a huge, metal cylinder. From that cylinder sprouted tiny cannons, which Blue knew were every bit as dangerous as the full-sized creations. Slowly, he stood up.

"What the hell is _that_ thing!?" Red screamed, as Blue walked past him. They had to dispose of Rita and at least get Maria to safety.

"That is the Ritmo-Mark III," Rita replied, narrowing her eyes, "The boys at Nakajima weren't keen on building it, but you'd be surprised what a little money can do. Now, are you going to be obedient little children and hand me my sister, or are you going to die noisily and soil my carpet with your blood?" She didn't even notice Blue walking toward a corner and grabbing a plastic bat, most probably Joker's from when he was a boy. Darius scoffed, and spat on the pristine carpet, causing Rita to glare at him.

"The only way you're getting aunt Maria is over _our_ dead bodies!" he spat venomously. Rita's fists clenched angrily, and Rouge was sure that she'd break her bones if she clenched any tighter. Her eyes twitched, and Joker swore silently that he saw a vein throb in her temples.

"You little brat!" Rita yelled, her face turning a very deep shade of red, "I've raised you and your rat of a brother, fed you, and housed you when your useless parents died, and _this_ is how you repay me!? With betrayal!?"

"You _tortured_ us, you sick woman!" Darius yelled back, "You had Joker thrown in prison! You gave us spoilt food as punishment for failure, or sometimes none at all! And not just for one meal! You'd do it for _days!_ I was _raped_ under your care and you didn't do anything about it! You're lucky we're not murdering you for your "care!" Rita's face looked ready to explode with outrage, though for exactly what reason, Blue couldn't yet know. He had to keep focused, and he hoped Darius would distract her just a minute longer. He held the bat firmly.

"It's _my_ fault you were careless in your operation!?" Rita screamed, as Maria looked at Darius, shocked with what she heard, "Your ineptitude is not my problem, Darius! To blame it on me is irresponsible!"

"_I WAS 15!!_" Darius screamed, and this time, tears fell from his eyes. His blood boiled; he wanted nothing more than to throttle that woman there and then. His mind snapped, he knew it had, but as he saw Blue, he understood that very soon, justice would be served. Blue's heart snapped when he heard the passion in Darius's voice, and he swung the bat as hard and as mightily as his strength permitted. He heard a loud crack, as the bat split in two, and then Rita's scream of agony pierced the air as she fell to the floor, her head bleeding slightly from being whacked on the head. Everyone blinked, not understanding exactly what happened until they saw Blue with the cracked bat.

"…Blue, what did you do!?" Rouge asked, his eyebrow raised in high confusion at what exactly just occurred, "Did you honestly just hit her with a baseball bat?!" Blue blinked, looking from Rita's unconscious form to his bat.

"I… I suppose I did," Blue replied, equally as confused, "I guess she made me too angry. Sorry about the bat, Joker." Joker chuckled from the entire scene, and then shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. It belongs to our cousin, Ness," Joker replied, as Blue discarded the bat. The rumbling was still going, which he remembered as he turned and saw the machine Rita summoned. His lip thinned. It didn't appear to be able to do anything with Rita down, but they still had to do something about it.

"Fuse, what should we do?" Blue asked, turning to the flustered cop, who managed to just retrieve his handcuffs, "Should we destroy the machine or simply run away before Rita wakes up?" Fuse spent a minute examining his handcuffs before turning to his younger apprentice, who glanced worriedly at the machine as thought it might activate suddenly. Fuse pondered the choice he could make. He could run, but that machine might've had sensors or commands to stop them if they did.

"At any rate, we need to get aunt Maria out," Joker reminded him kindly, frowning, "At least let Emelia and our aunt go. They need to be kept safe." Emelia looked over at Joker for a split second, and when he nodded, she silently agreed to his idea. Fuse's lips thinned. He didn't like that idea, as it may put the two women in danger.

"Honestly, I have no idea what to do. If I send you both out, you might get into trouble if Rita has anyone else here working for her," Fuse said sternly, crossing his arms, "Maria, you're our main concern. What do _you_ want to do?" Maria blinked, shivering despite there being no cold in the basement when Darius turned on the furnace. She had regained a trace of color, but she still looked very weak. Joker hoped she would opt to head to the plane for safety, as well as some food.

"I… I don't know," she whispered, and Rouge slapped his forehead in frustration, "I suppose we should leave, but I feel so weak. What if I collapse?" Fuse bit his lip. With her unstable condition, that was a very big risk indeed. He looked up at the steep basement steps, trying to figure out just what to do to satisfy everyone. Blue wanted to scrap the machine, Joker wanted Maria and Emelia to escape, and judging from Roufas, Rouge, and Red's wary glances at Rita's unconscious form, they wanted her cuffed and shut in a cell. Fuse finally sighed.

"Okay, this isn't getting us a damn farther," Fuse finally said, "Emelia, you take Maria up to the kitchen and get her some food. Not a lot, since her body might not handle it well, but get her fed and get her some form of drink. She needs urgent care. As for us… we'll shut down that machine and arrest Rita all the same." Emelia nodded, and carefully taking Maria's hand, led her back up into the kitchen. As she switched on the kitchen light up top, light spilled from the room onto the stairs, casting even greater light around the area.

"So what do we do first?" Rouge asked, "Do we cuff Rita or scrap the machine?" Fuse's lips thinned again. That was another rough decision. If they touched Rita, that might set an alarm, but if they dismantled the machine, Rita might wake up.

"All right, here's how this will work," Fuse said, a sly grin forming, "Blue, you, Rouge, and Red will work on taking apart that menace of metal. Roufas and I will work on arresting Rita." Blue nodded, but Joker raised a confused eyebrow, glancing around the room.

"What about us?" he finally inquired when Fuse said nothing further. Fuse looked over at Joker.

"Hmmm… Well, I know it's not much, but you two should investigate the other rooms. Make sure Rita doesn't have any other guests we need to rescue," Fuse ordered. Joker nodded, and with Darius, ran into the back hall, thrusting open every door they found. Finally, Fuse turned back to Rita's nearly lifeless form, brandishing his handcuffs. He slapped one on Rita's left hand, brought her arm up so it was behind her back, and with Roufas's help, handcuffed her right hand.

"Think that's enough of a bond?" Roufas asked, adjusting his sunglasses, "She's pretty powerful for an older woman. I hope she doesn't escape."

"She won't. These are titanium. Nothing breaks through them," Fuse said, though inwardly, he also hoped she didn't somehow escape. Carefully, he hoisted the unconscious woman onto her feet, her head drooping as though she were sleeping. He turned to Blue and asked, "How's the dismantle going?" A grunt from Red told him it probably wasn't going very well. Blue turned, his face a bit pale.

"Nothing seems to break it open, sir," Blue replied, "It's deflecting every spell Rouge and I put into it." Fuse raised a worried brow at that remark, wondering just what materials Rita used for it. Suddenly, the machine jerked, causing Red to scream and Rouge to jump back. Blue blinked, and then looked at Rouge questioningly.

"Bro, I think we have a problem," Rouge commented, pointing to the machine. It rumbled again, and this time, its eyes lit up. Blue's teeth clenched. It was activated somehow, and he heard a slow laughter behind him. Fuse and Roufas looked down and saw Rita was up, and the laughter was indeed coming from her. Red grabbed the discarded bat, but a quick suggestion from Alkaiser told him the bat wouldn't do any good. He threw it reluctantly into the corner.

"Oh, it's not just a problem," Rita said darkly, her mouth twisting into the familiar cruel smile Blue had associated her with, "It's the path to your death! Ritmo-Mark III, _ATTACK!_" Rita's scream was all the machine needed as the cylinder at the top revolved and transformed into a large turret, with what Blue counted to be over fifty openings for bullets to come out of. Pushing Rita away, Fuse ran to join Rouge, Red, and Blue in the battle as Roufas kept a tight grip on Rita so she didn't try to run. She laughed as the turrets began releasing blankets of bullets across the room. Rouge fried half of the blanketing wave as Blue took out the other half, and Fuse set his laser to try and paralyze the machine. Red drew his laser sword and attempted to stab the machine, in the hopes that sparks would fly, but the machine's body deflected the blow perfectly. Red cursed.

"Damn it, it keeps reflecting our attacks!" Red exclaimed in frustration, "How can we get past its defenses!?" Fuse narrowed his eyes as he let loose a huge web of electricity from his laser, illuminating the walls further and igniting under the machine.

"We have to keep trying! We'll wear it down eventually!" Fuse yelled encouragingly, and then screamed as a vulcan was released right on him, "OW! Shit!" He staggered backwards from the blow, and both Rouge and Blue turned to him, terrified he'd been killed.

"CAPTAIN!" they both yelled, and then Rouge turned to the machine and growled, "That's it, you useless piece of scrap metal! I've had it with you! _Energy chain!_" Rouge focused all of his power into that spell and shot it straight at the turret cylinder. It hit dead on, and exploded, taking the vulcan out entirely. Red cheered, until the dust cleared to reveal that under that turret was a laser beam. Rita laughed again.

"You honestly think one spell took out an entire turret!?" she laughed, shaking her head, "Think again, sweeties." Blue snorted with amusement. They hadn't destroyed the machine, but at least they knew one of its weak points. Charging up his own power, Blue unleashed Vapor Blast, skewering another part of the turret, taking out thirty bullet holes. The machine alarm sounded, and Rouge grinned.

"Nice shot, bro!" he cheered, "Think we're going to scrap it soon?"

"I don't know, but its turret is the weak point," Blue replied, "Just keep… ACK!" Rouge blinked, and saw Blue hoisted up into the air by a giant, metallic hand. He raised a confused brow, wondering if Blue's spell somehow backfired, but when he looked back at the machine, he saw one of the arms were indeed missing. It was a new attack, thanks to the fact that the turret had been decimated.

"So much for that plan," Rouge mumbled, and then called, "Hold on, Blue! I'll get you down from there!" He released another Energy Chain, but instead of shocking the hand, it got Blue instead, who yelped in pain and glared down at his brother angrily.

"Watch what you're doing, Rouge!" he scolded, eye twitching from the fact that he could barely move, "You nearly killed _me_!" Rouge's face flushed from embarrassment as Red let out a roar of laughter.

"Sorry, bro. I thought I hit it," Rouge replied calmly. Blue rolled his eyes, but a laugh from Rita drew both their attentions.

"You did hit it, but my creation automatically redirects all spells aimed at its hand to its victim," Rita replied, and grinned maliciously, "I do hope you don't hurt your brother too much. It's a pity when we murder our own family." Rouge's eyes narrowed angrily. He had to get Blue out of that hand, but he didn't know what to do. Any special techniques would just hurt Blue, and though they didn't always get along, Rouge never wanted to hurt Blue again. He swore he wouldn't after their duel.

"Rouge, don't worry about me!" Blue called down, "Just bust this machine."

"But what if I kill you? You heard what Rita said, didn't you!?" Rouge yelled back, "Blue, I can't! I made a promise to never nearly kill you again! I can't break it!"

"But you have to do something!" Blue called back, "You… eh!?" Suddenly, the hand dropped him and he crashed right into Rouge, both of them falling ungracefully to the ground. When they both stood up, they looked around, but the hand had vanished. Rouge looked over at Rita, who looked absolutely disgusted with them.

"Why'd it let him go?" he asked, and silently, Blue wondered the same thing himself. A drop of sweat rolled down Rita's head.

"Because all of that talk of loyalty and promises makes me want to retch," Rita replied flatly, "Besides, I have different ways of killing you. Ritmo-Mark III, attack formation omega!" Rumbling began again, and both brothers turned to face the machine. Fuse blinked as he silently waited for something to happen, but minutes passed. Red looked apprehensive, and then turned to Rita.

"What the hell is attack formation omega?" Red asked, raising a confused eyebrow, "Because if it's to do nothing, it's working perfectly." Rita smirked, and then a low, deep sound, like that of a large horn went off as green steam burst from behind the machine. Blue blinked, and then coughed. Something smelled horrible, and Rouge could only describe it as smelling of rotten eggs, onions, and dog poop. Everyone in the room, save for Rita, began coughing and sputtering.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Rouge yelled, "_That's_ your last attack!? To make your stupid robot _fart!?_" Blue almost snickered at the realization that they definitely seemed to have won the battle, but the foul smell kept him from wanting to unplug his nose or open his mouth. He could hear Darius and Joker ask what such a foul stench was. Rita laughed.

"At least _I'm_ not the one breathing it in," she replied smugly. Rouge rolled his eyes. He'd gone through worse from a triceratops, a hellhound, and undead hordes. This was just pathetic to him. He glanced at Blue, who nodded. Both had an idea to defeat the robot.

"Well, then there's only one thing to do," Rouge said evilly, as he grinned, "Thank the Goddess that Master Udon taught us chemistry back in the Magic Kingdom. Blue, now!"

"_FLASHFIRE!_" Blue yelled, and immediately, a whirl of flames surrounded the machine, igniting as soon as it came into contact with the green gas. Explosion upon explosion encased the poor machine, and soon, absolutely nothing was left in its place as the fire died down. Scrap metal fell everywhere, and Red had to practically dance around to avoid being hit as Fuse took shelter with Roufas under a table. Blue and Rouge were the only ones unaffected, even as a large pipe hit Rouge right on the head. Rita stared, eye twitching in disbelief as she saw her master creation destroyed by its own attack.

"_WHAT!?_" she screamed, as Darius and Joker ran in to see all of the destruction, "No. NO! You destroyed it! You destroyed my beautiful machine! Oh, _how_ could this have happened!? No, it's not true! This is a terrible dream! NO!" Fuse inched out of the table and grabbed hold of Rita's arms as she struggled to escape the handcuffs. With a bit of effort, he restrained her.

"Rita, you're under arrest for not only the above charges mentioned, but for assaulting three police officers, five witnesses, and one innocent," Fuse told her, dragging her up the stairs as she screamed, "Now shut up or I might just shoot you." Blue shook his head, wondering just how Fuse would manage to pull that off. Just then, his phone went off, and sighing, he took the call as Rouge looked at him with concern.

"Hello? Doll? What's up?" Blue asked, and Rouge tilted his head, wondering why Doll would be calling again, "What!? That's great! IRPO is safe! Yeah, we have her. I think Fuse is bringing her into the plane. Yes, she's…" Blue stopped as Fuse screamed and was thrown back down the stairs, and he heard Emelia and Maria screaming as well. He felt a large source of dangerous energy, and quickly he said, "Doll, I'll call you back!" and hung up the phone. Rouge ran over to help Fuse.

"You all right, boss!?" Rouge asked, brushing dust off of Fuse, who appeared to be generally unharmed. Fuse stood up, shaking violently as he clicked his blaster.

"That woman's got more tricks up her sleeves. The whole house is a huge trap! We have to escape!" Fuse yelled, "Everyone, out!"

"But what about Rita!?" Darius asked, as Roufas and Red scrambled to throw open the basement trapdoor as they saw Emelia and Maria run from the house. Fuse shook his head, sweat beating down his face.

"Forget her, soldier," Fuse said sternly, "We can't risk our lives on this one. We need back-up." Blue glanced at Rouge, and both twins nodded as Rouge made for the stairs.

"We'll take care of this!" Blue shouted, running up after his brother. Fuse blinked as Joker ran past, obviously feeling escape was the best choice.

"What!? No! Blue! Rouge! Get back here!" Fuse yelled, but to no avail. Neither magician listened as they stormed up, even when Fuse threatened to fire them for disobeying him. As the two reached the kitchen, a large laser barely missed singing them, and Rouge nearly fell down the stairs jumping back. When it was safe, they dashed through the kitchen toward the large foyer, where the grand staircase stood.

"Okay, what's the plan, bro?" Rouge asked as they flew around the corner and up the stairs as laughter was being heard. It was loud, as though someone was laughing through a large megaphone, right in their ears. Blue's eyes narrowed.

"Normal restraints aren't cutting it, Rouge," Blue told him quickly, "We can't kill her, but without magic, she'll slaughter us. That leaves us with one alternative." Rouge blinked, and then gasped. He didn't like where Blue's idea was going.

"No! Blue, you can't be serious!" Rouge exclaimed in exasperation, "We can't morph into Aubergine! It's too dangerous! What if we kill ourselves!?"

"Rouge, we have no choice," Blue stated grimly, as they stomped up the second landing, "If _we_ don't risk our lives, the lasers will kill us. Aubergine's the only one who can survive if she attacks. All we need is to knock her out." Rouge bit his lip as they continued to climb higher and higher, finally going well past five floors. The stairs finally ended in an attic, and the laughter continued on even louder than it was. Blue guessed Rita was on the roof. Rouge seemed to notice that, too.

"Why is it that these people just love fighting on the rooftop?" Rouge asked, as they sprinted down the dark, narrow corridor that ended in a slightly open door, "Is there something about falling off that attracts them to it?" Blue laughed as the door slowly came closer and closer, until his hand finally fell onto the knob. He hesitated.

"Rouge, should we morph here, before we fight?" he asked seriously. Rouge stopped, and looked down. He didn't want to morph _at all_, but he knew there was no other way. Rita was too dangerous, her robot simply a decoy to weaken them. He nodded, sighing with disapproval.

"We might as well, bro," Rouge replied. Both brothers closed their eyes, letting their power build and build, and finally, a warm sensation took over them both as they unleashed their energy. When they opened their eyes, they were one person. His robes billowed in magnificent hues of purple, and his wings, one of an angel and one of a demon, flapped majestically as he threw open the door, striding onto the roof. Anita was there, but she stopped laughing the instant she saw Aubergine. She didn't recognize him.

"…I'm sorry, but who are you?" she asked, letting her echoing laughter die down, "Are you a contractor? I can explain the police outside. Just an accident, sir." Aubergine smirked, and Rouge's laugh issued from him, though it was Blue's voice that spoke.

"We know why the police are here," Aubergine said, "The question is, have you any idea who _we_ are?" Rita raised a skeptical brow. She had no idea what this man seemed to be getting at, and she squinted her eyes as she took a better look at him. He did look vaguely familiar. Finally, she gasped. The man resembled both Blue and Rouge.

"Ah, you must be those boys' father," Rita said, frowning, "Like I said, it was a misunderstanding. No need to do anything hasty." Aubergine sighed, shaking his head.

"We _ARE_ those boys. We have become one with the blessing of the Goddess," Aubergine said, tilting his head, "A pity for you. Rouge was quite sure you'd recognize us." Rita's eye twitched again, unable to understand just what this man was trying to say. Somehow, the two brothers became one person, but how could that be possible?

"So, you think your little fusion can stop me?" Rita asked, "You think you're going to kill me?"

"Not kill. You're not worth our energy to smite you," Aubergine replied, "However, to stop is another answer. You have caused too much damage in this world. You must be silenced." Inside of Aubergine's mind, Rouge glanced at Blue, who nodded. He had no true plan, but if they stalled for another minute, they wouldn't need to fight. Rita laughed.

"You sound to be like an angel of death," she commented, amused, "Tell me, officer, how do you plan to silence me?" Aubergine hesitated, and Rouge knew Blue's plan had reached a limit. Blue's mind scrambled to think of something, but nothing appeared short of killing her. Rouge, however, thought of their magic. They had two that would help them, even if it might damage Rita. Psychic Prison would encase her in a bubble, but it would break soon enough. Energy Chain could paralyze her, but with their combined power, it would surely kill her. But, if they were the master of magic, surely they could change that. He suggested the idea to Blue very quickly.

'_You think… we could control what the chain does?_' Blue asked in their combined mind. Rouge, appearing as a spiritual hologram behind Aubergine, nodded to Blue, who also appeared as an apparition.

'_It's worth a try,_' Rouge reasoned, '_If we don't do it, she'll break the Psychic Prison, and if we don't try something, she'll escape._' Blue had to agree. Rouge's idea was definitely worth a shot. Aubergine smiled as the two apparitions disappeared, and the two brother's voices became one.

"Binding you seems best," Aubergine replied, "Energy Chain!" A large chain of lightning shot down from the sky, its neon green aura lighting the entire area in a soft glow. Using his hands to create complex symbols, Aubergine crafted the chain to soften itself and to wrap around Rita, but the woman jumped away, and the lightning crashed into the railing behind her. Aubergine growled.

"Ha! I'm not daft enough to let the likes of you 'silence' me, boys," she said, landing ten feet from her previous spot, "You'll have to do better than that to stop this wily fox!" With that, she dashed past Aubergine and ran down the corridor. Aubergine cursed angrily.

'_Damn it! How did she get away!?_' Rouge spat angrily, as Aubergine ran down the corridor after the woman. Blue's face took on an expression of determination. Rouge's idea hadn't worked, and though he didn't think it smart to try it again, as many things could ignite inside of the house, he did have a new plan. If they cornered her, they could bind her if he tapped into the Stasis rune.

'_Just keep going. I have a plan,_' Blue told him, as they continued down. Rouge glanced at Blue, and then shook his head as Aubergine flew down the stairs. Rita was already two floors down below, and making her way toward her room. They had to stop her.

'_NOW you finally have one? Blue, I think it's a bit late for that,_' Rouge stated. Blue ignored him, and once again, they let their minds meld back to Aubergine, who just reached the floor Anita fled to. He ran down the long hall, flying into the one door that was open. Rita was just stepping through the balcony to the outside. She looked up and grinned as she saw Aubergine there.

"Ah, so you decided to follow me after all," she replied, and then chuckled, "No Energy Chain here, boys. You don't want to ignite my house, do you?" She laughed again, expecting Aubergine to back away in defeat, but when he remained, cold as ever, she ceased her laughter and glared as she asked, "What are you planning!?"

"You must not know that we're the master of magic if we fuse together," Aubergine said, almost amused at the reaction he received, "What _Blue_ has planned is a bit more complicated." Rita's eye twitched, as Aubergine waved his arm in a half-circle, a small crescent of a moon appearing as his arm weaved. Rita went to run, to jump off the balcony and leave the house, but as she reached the banister, she found she couldn't even move. She tried again, but her arms and legs were frozen.

"_WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS!?_" she screamed. But the more she struggled, the more frozen she became as the rune in question began to work. She opened her mouth to scream one last insult, but the rune was completed. She froze over. Inwardly, Rouge cheered as he saw the stasis woman standing there.

'_Nice plan, Blue!_' he commented, high-fiving his brother, '_Now what?_' Aubergine walked over, lifting the static woman with no effort, his wings beating as he rose in the air.

'_Now we head back to headquarters and lock her up,_' Blue told him, '_Actually, we should probably see if Fuse is still around. If he's smart, he's starting the plane as we speak._' Rouge nodded, and with a push from both Aubergine's angelic and demonic wings, the master was in the air, carrying the frozen woman. They soared out over the balcony and across the large parking lot for the bar. The plane was in view, and Aubergine saw everyone climbing in it. He dove a bit, slowing down, but then, the plane lifted off. Furious, Rouge cursed, but Blue calmed him as Aubergine continued to soar, hoping to catch the plane before too much distance was between them.

"Wait! Wait for us! We're… we're alive!"

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, finally Rita is brought to IRPO custody, thanks to the master of magic, Aubergine! But, will the Stasis rune hold out, and how was it that Aubergine actually bent the nature of the spell to his will? Will anyone on the plane recognize our heroes when they're morphed together? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	22. Law and Order: Saga Frontier Style

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier 1 or 2. SquareSoft does, but they have no idea how I plan to crossover both games, since one takes place in the 1200s. Also, for those who HAVE played, I know there's no actual way for Nicolette and Kelvin to be around the same age, but for story purposes, they just are.

As Aubergine flew through the sky, trying to keep up with the speeding plane, he began to worry about the effectiveness of his spell. And, he began to worry that he couldn't catch up to the plane. After all, he could only go so fast, and he already felt Rouge's magic being exhausted, as the boy was just a bit weaker than Blue was. Minutes trailed on, and to Rouge, it felt like hours had passed. He let another moment slip before he appeared as an apparition behind Aubergine, turning his head to face Blue, who also appeared.

'_Blue, how the hell did you think we'd catch up to a plane?_' he asked, raising a curious brow, '_I don't think they know we're alive. Please tell me you had another plan if this failed._' Blue gave his twin a flat look, unable to believe how impatient Rouge was. He did have a plan. It simply wasn't completed yet.

'_Rouge, just relax. Fuse put the nitro on. As soon as it wears out, we can catch up_," Blue replied calmly, '_Unless, of course, he uses the other nitro with it. Then we might be screwed._' He laughed a bit as Rouge gave him a hard glare, unable to understand just how that would've comforted him. Rouge simply shook his head.

'_Dude, you're not funny_,' he finally stated bluntly, but that only caused Blue to laugh again before they both returned into Aubergine's mind to regain control before their shared body became unresponsive. As Blue had stated, the nitro of the plane began to recede, and soon, Aubergine closed the distance between themselves and the plane, landing on the roof when he finally reached the vehicle. Roufas heard a loud thud, and looked up at the ceiling.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, trying to open one of the windows to look out and see. Unfortunately, Fuse had locked them all, and he had all of the keys with him, so Roufas simply sighed, crossing his arms.

"We're not under imperial attack, are we?" Darius added, glancing at Joker. Fuse snorted as he sipped his coffee.

"Unless your crazy aunt has connections with the Imperial Air Facilities, it's probably just a Rabbat or something equally as ridiculous," Fuse replied airily, obviously not seeing the need for concern, "Sometimes we get those monsters flying this high up. I usually give myself fifty points if I hit them." Darius blinked, wondering just how Fuse managed to be promoted to captain with that attitude. At that moment, the deck door was opened, and both Rouge and Blue ran in, dragging Rita with them. They had defused on the roof.

"Sorry, Captain," Rouge said, "That thud was us. Blue doesn't know how to land properly." Blue's eyes widened and he glared at his brother, who grinned.

"Excuse me!? _I_ can't land!?" he yelled, "_You're_ the one who wanted to catch up to them so badly!" Back and forth, they began to argue as everyone simply watched, save for Rita, who was frozen solid from the Stasis rune. Fuse simply blinked, and when it got to the point where Rouge threatened bodily harm, he had to step in and be the father figure.

"Both of you shut it or I'll shove my boots so far up your asses that you'll be spitting out laces!" Fuse yelled, and immediately, both boys stopped their fighting, "Now then, I got a call from the boss again." Rouge blinked as Blue sat down in a chair, leaning Rita against a wall.

"Again? What's wrong now?" he asked.

"She couldn't get us into Trinity Court unless we wanted to wait a few months," Fuse replied, turning back to the sky before they managed to crash, "So she booked us a court hearing on the continent of Hahn Nova." Blue blinked. He had been taught of that continent when he was a kid, but it was very, very far from anywhere near IRPO's jurisdiction. And, it hadn't yet given up its old ways, so execution was still probable if they were seen as a threat.

"Sir… isn't going there a bit too dangerous?" Blue presented, and Fuse glanced at him, "We could be executed if seen as a threat. They're still very much a military nation. It's too risky!"

"Boy, we don't have much of a choice. Unless you want Rita to escape while we wait for a hearing from Trinity, this is what we have," Fuse stated sternly, "She already sent word to them. The king there is sending his royal guard to escort us so nothing will happen. Just sit down and don't piss yourself while I drive there!" Blue sighed, but said nothing more. It was useless to try to argue, and so the next hour passed in silence. By that time, any of the cities and borders he'd familiarized himself with were long passed as a large ocean came into view. Fuse thrust on the second nitro to speed through it, not wanting to waste any more time than they already had.

"So, has anyone ever actually been to Hahn Nova before?" Red finally asked, when the silence seemed to get on his nerves. No one raised their hands, and Blue wasn't all that surprised to find that only he seemed to know anything about it. Even Rouge had no idea at all about what Hahn Nova was.

"I've been taught that magic is still very much in use there," Blue explained, feeling that he'd better contribute to their preparations at least, "In fact, their uses rival the Magic Kingdom's and Fascinaturu's. I'm almost excited to be going… except that their laws are incredibly strict. I'm not so sure this is a safe idea." Rouge's lips thinned, hearing the hesitation in Blue's voice. Blue himself simply looked out the window, and then said, "Lion said she came from Hahn Nova before Orlouge recruited her. I should've asked her about it."

"I wouldn't worry so much, bro," Rouge said encouragingly, "What's the worst that could happen, anyway?" Blue laughed. Every time Rouge said that, something usually slapped him right in the face immediately afterwards, but this time, nothing happened. Just then, Fuse began to descend the plane, and as everyone looked out the window, the large empire of Hahn Nova came into view. The city was beautiful, surrounding a large fortress in its center, and farmland, fields, and meadows surrounded the city. It looked peaceful, and very different from the more modern cities within their own continent. Fuse aimed to land in one of the fields on the outskirts of the city, and as they came closer to the ground, figures of men came into view. Finally, they managed to land, and to scare off many of the troops that had been sent for their safety. Only one man managed to stay, completely undaunted by the aircraft.

"Ah, you must be the visitors in need of a court hearing," the man said, as Fuse came out of the plane, "Welcome to Hahn Nova. I'm commander Nebelstern." The commander was taller than Fuse, with long, brown hair. He wore silver armor, and on his head was a circlet made of steel. He and Fuse shook hands.

"Yup, that's us," Fuse replied, "Sorry to be intruding like this, but this is a really urgent case. This woman nearly killed my best unit, and almost murdered her own sister in front of us." Nebelstern sighed, his lips thinning.

"Your boss already filled us in on her heinous crimes," he said kindly, "At any rate, we're happy to help you. Our ruler wishes to see you immediately. He'd like to hear your ordeal before we start court." Without another word, Nebelstern led Fuse and the others away from the field, with only a few troops still following them. He led them through the city, of which both Emelia and Maria were intrigued to see. Four troops carried Rita, who was still frozen from the Stasis rune.

"Wow! This place looks awesome!" Red said, as he looked over at one of the stands selling food to his left, "Fuse, can we do some shopping before we leave? I've never seen this stuff before!" Nebelstern chuckled at the enthusiasm in Red's voice, and Fuse sighed, having no idea how to respond. They had jobs to do, and even though he himself wanted to look at Hahn Nova, he knew better than to shirk like that.

"We'll see _after_ we get this court hearing," Fuse simply replied, as Roufas dragged Red away from the stand. Fuse then turned back to Nebelstern, and said, "How did you get our message so quickly? I heard you don't condone technology very much." Nebelstern looked at him critically for a moment. Then he smiled slyly.

"Normally, we don't, but the Count of Jade insisted that we should try to trust our continental brothers a bit more," he explained, "So, we had one imported thanks to a young digger. He wasn't too happy to be trading a quell for one, but he did it." Fuse had no idea what a quell actually was, so he simply nodded his head. They walked on, leaving the busy street, which Nebelstern explained was the main part of the shopping district. They entered the large gardens that represented the square of the vast city, where ladies sat on the benches, watching their children playing. They were promptly ignored as the group walked on, past two large, iron gates and into a large, spacious courtyard. Two fountains adorned the path leading to the large castle, one on each side. Roufas whistled as he looked on.

"Wow… not even the Charm Lord has this kind of décor in his kingdom," he commented in awe, "And trust me, I've been there." Blue nodded, having seen Orlouge's castle for himself. It paled miserably compared to this. He'd have to come back to this place eventually, but for now, he simply followed Nebelstern, who continued upwards toward the front of the castle, where two guards stopped him.

"Ah, commander! You're back!" one of the guards exclaimed, "Lord Gustave's been waiting for you. Are these the visitors?" He gestured to the group behind Nebelstern. The commander nodded.

"Yes, that's right," he replied calmly, "Is Lord Gustave ready?"

"He is, but not all of the royal court appeared yet," the guard replied nervously, "We still need to wait for the Count of Jade, the King of Finney, and the Marquis of Cantal. If you ask me, they're taking their time just to piss Lord Gustave off. We gave them more than enough notice to take a boat and get here on time." Rouge snorted at the expression that now crossed Nebelstern's face, which was a mix of shock and fury. He drew his spear.

"Hold that tongue or I'll pierce it off for our Lord," he scolded furiously, "Do not say such things of our lordship's court! Do you know how long until they do arrive?" The two guards looked at each other, but neither appeared to have any clue at all. They both shrugged.

"It could take an hour, or a week depending on how much they want to push their luck," the other guard replied, earning himself a sharp growl from their commander, "But I'm sure they're on their way!" Nebelstern simply shook his head. He had displayed enough displeasure at them, and resumed showing his guests the interior of the castle. It was amazing to everyone! The stone that the castle was made of was cut in perfect slants and arranged in ways none of them imagined possible. Its coloring resembled gold, but to a richer degree. Banners and tapestries adorned all of the walls, and the railings on the stairways were made of highly polished oak. It was clear that even Blue had never seen such a place, despite being raised in a castle himself.

"This must've cost a fortune!" Emelia exclaimed, her eyes wide, "Honestly, Hahn Nova is beautiful! Is it possible for me to live here?" Nebelstern chuckled, and nodded as he smiled warmly.

"Of course it is. Likewise, many of us are beginning to wonder what your own continent is like," Nebelstern replied, "If you all would like, I could talk to Lord Gustave about issuing you a citizen ID so you could travel here safely." Though that appealed to everyone, only Red took up the deal. There was too much on their minds right now to harbor any dreams of moving to such a wondrous place. Nebelstern led them up the stairs and down a long hallway, finally leading into a large, circular chamber that resembled a very prestigious cathedral. A throne stood on a pedestal in the center of this expansive room, and on that throne sat a very handsome, well-built man adorned in shining, steel armor. His skin was slightly tanned from the sun, and his hair was long and blond, nearly reaching to the floor. He looked bored, but as he saw Nebelstern enter, he smiled. Next to this man stood another, smaller man who looked more of a servant than anyone particularly important. He, too, seemed to jump with energy upon the commander's arrival.

"Ah, Nebelstern! I see you've brought our guests to safety," the first man said, standing up and walking off of the pedestal, "I'm to guess that all went well?" Nebelstern nodded, and knelt to the ground.

"Of course, Lord Gustave," he said, and then stood up again, "I've been informed that no one else has shown yet." The man, Gustave, sighed and nodded, his mouth slanting in a skeptical frown.

"Not yet," he replied worriedly, "Kelvin, I can understand. He is currently working on setting his army to get to Weissland. But neither my brother nor my sister have that sort of project. I'm beginning to worry. It shouldn't take long for them to get here, even if it's by boat." Red remembered what the guards outside had said about spiting Gustave.

"I think the guards suspect your brother and sister of pushing your buttons a bit, dude," Red stated plainly. Nebelstern turned to look at him incredulously, and Gustave actually laughed at the statement. It wasn't in scorn or mock, but in amusement. His smile didn't even fade.

"I can see Philippe doing that," he laughed, shaking his head, "Marie might help him with that if she thought it humorous enough. I shall give them until tomorrow morning to get here. If they don't make it, I'm afraid I'll simply start court without them. Flynn, go and get us some drinks. I'm sure our visitors are tired. They barely finished their mission before having to fly out all this way." The second man, who was still near the throne, nodded and ran off. To where, no one knew, but Blue knew he'd be back shortly. Gustave walked back to his throne and sat down.

"So, what happens if Rita's found guilty?" Joker asked, "Who decides what her fate is?" Gustave gave that inquire a moment's thought. He could only guess that one; he had never dealt with a matter on another continent.

"I believe I do, since you've brought her to my jurisdiction," Gustave replied, "Though I will take your personal opinions of what should be done into consideration… ah! Flynn, where are the drinks?" Flynn had come back without anything, but behind him stood three figures. One was of a shorter man with fair hair and elegant, blue clothes. The second was of a taller man with dark, brown hair, and red robes. The third was of a young woman wearing a veil to hide her blonde hair, wearing a robe of white. Flynn approached the throne.

"Sorry, sir Gus," he said, "When I went to the kitchens, I saw that Lord Kelvin, Lord Philippe, and Lady Marie were waiting to be let in. I felt they should be announced." Gustave smiled when he saw the three figures, and once again left the throne.

"Yes! Of course! Brother, and sister, I welcome you back to my court once more!" he said to the red robed man and the white robed woman. To the third man, he said, "Kelvin, I'm glad to see that you've made it." Kelvin nodded as Marie hugged Gustave. Philippe seemed completely uninterested in whatever was actually going on.

"Yes. Sorry about the delay," Kelvin replied, "Your brother doesn't know how to steer a boat, apparently." Marie and Gustave simply laughed, but Philippe became indignant and irritated.

"Oh, shut up! At least _I_ tried to make myself useful, unlike _you_ both!" Philippe snapped, and then calmed himself as he spoke to his brother, "Do you mind filling us in? We didn't come here to make fun of my driving skills." Gustave laughed. He had expected something like this to occur. Shaking his head, he pointed to Fuse, Blue, and everyone else who had come along on the mission. Philippe gave them all a skeptical look.

"We have visitors from the continent on the borders of Fascinaturu, Shrike, and Manhattan," Gustave explained, "They require our help, as their judicial system is too backed up to get a proper court hearing in a short amount of time." Philippe looked at him blankly, and then at Fuse.

"Why couldn't they wait?" he asked plainly.

"The woman we're charging has committed murder, assault, grand larceny, forgery, and put minors in danger," Fuse explained, "We have to charge her _now_ before she has a chance to get a defense that could negate all these charges." Marie had covered her mouth at the list of offenses, and Kelvin had paled considerably upon the explanation as well. Even Philippe seemed shocked, finally realizing the direness of the situation. He turned to Gustave.

"We'd better start court immediately then," he suggested. Gustave nodded, walked back to his throne, and sat once more. This time, he directed his speech to Nebelstern, who was talking with Blue about the case and its many details.

"Nebelstern, please go and inform the rest of the court that we're beginning immediately," Gustave said. Nebelstern nodded, and left the room. Half an hour later, the large chamber was now full of people, either watching or lending a hand in the trial. Only one person was on Rita's side, and to Kelvin's horror, it was Nicolette. His eye twitched as he saw her. Even Gustave seemed very disturbed by her presence.

"Don't tell me you're acting as a defense attorney," Kelvin said plainly as Nicolette passed him. She smiled smugly.

"But of course. Someone needs to act as one for this to be a proper court," she replied, "Besides, it's like fighting _you_, who are acting as the DA, so that's even better for me. I can't wait to kick your sorry behind right back to Jade." Kelvin's eye twitched again.

"I hate you," he said, and Nicolette simply smiled, walking over to a second table just a bit to the right of Kelvin's, where Rita now sat. The two women shook hands, and for some reason, that made Kelvin even angrier. Feeling that he had better step in, Gustave rose.

"All rise for the honorable Lord Gustave," Nebelstern said, and when all had risen, he said, "Be seated." Again, everyone sat. Flynn handed Gustave a slip of paper that Fuse had written with every specific charge, and Gustave nearly reeled at the list. It was long, compared to the past courts he held. He cleared his throat and turned to Rita.

"On the charges of murder in the first degree, four counts of assault, three counts of negligence, ten counts of grand larceny, ten counts of forgery, and ten counts of reckless endangerment, how do you plead?" he asked calmly. Rita and Nicolette exchanged an incoherent whisper, and Rita spoke up.

"Not guilty, your Lordship," she said, smiling. Red jumped up out of his seat.

"_OBJECTION!_" he yelled, causing Kelvin to glare at him as Nicolette let out an amused laugh. Roufas sighed and dragged Red back into his seat as Gustave raised an amused brow at the outburst.

"Red, don't be an idiot!" Roufas hissed sharply, "You can't just shout 'objection!' That's Kelvin's job, and court hasn't even started yet!"

"But she did all of that! She's lying!" Red argued, "Can't we object to that!?" Roufas's eyes narrowed as Fuse snorted, and he shook his head.

"No. Now shut up and let Kelvin do his job," Roufas said. Kelvin sighed, and as he was called to bring a witness first, he brought Joker to the stand. Joker walked up nervously, and as he got into the seat near the throne, Kelvin whispered, "It's all right. Just tell us all the truth and you'll do fine." Joker nodded.

"Steven, how old were you when the alleged abuse started?" Kelvin asked, pacing around the court.

"When it started with me, I was ten years old," Joker replied, "I was seven when she started hurting Darius." Kelvin hummed and nodded, thinking his next question carefully. If he had any hopes of bringing Rita down, he had to play strategically.

"What sort of abuse did you go through?" he asked.

"At first, she used to hit me when I didn't do or say what she wanted," Joker replied, "Sometimes she'd slap me across the face… something she'd throw a book at me. It depended on what I did wrong."

"And did she ever starve you?" Kelvin asked, "Did she ever do anything other than physically harm you or your brother?" That's when Kelvin saw what he needed. Joker's eyes watered. He nodded.

"Y-yeah… she sometimes locked us in our rooms and left us there for days," Joker replied, as the tears fell, "She'd call me names and tell me how useless I was, like my mother. She… she almost killed me when I first went to prison."

"And can you recount what happened to Darius?" Kelvin asked. Joker trembled as he looked at his brother, who nodded.

"I think he needs to answer that," Joker said, trying to keep his voice from breaking. Kelvin looked at Gustave, who nodded, and then he turned to Darius, who raised a worried brow. He nodded.

"Will Darius please rise?" Kelvin asked, and when he did so, walking up to stand next to Joker, Kelvin continued, "What abuse were you put through from this woman?"

"Starvation, malnutrition, exposure, rape," Darius listed bitterly, "You name it, she put me through it. I lost my virginity when I was 15 because of her, and she nearly broke my arm when I told her about it. I wanted to kill myself after that, but I couldn't leave my brother with that monster." The jury looked aghast when they heard this, and many of them murmured to each other. Kelvin held up a tiny bag.

"We'd like to produce exhibit A," he said, "This is Darius and Joker's lab results, which indeed prove that they've suffered beatings and rape before. I'd like you to read it." With this, he handed the bag to the jury, who read off the results. It was clear that they had already decided their opinion of Rita.

"Dear god!" Wil Knights exclaimed, "That woman should be executed for these results!"

"Order in my courtroom or you'll be dismissed!" Gustave commanded sternly, and then turned to Nicolette, "Have you any questions for these witnesses?" Nicolette nodded, and stood. To Rita, she whispered, "You had better have a decent explanation when I call you, because you're dead now."

"Yes, sir," she replied, and walked over to where Kelvin stood, "Steven, Darius, I do not distrust your judgment, but did Rita ever display any method of kindness to you?"

"No," Darius said plainly, as Joker shook his head in agreement. Nicolette blinked.

"Let me rephrase that: Did she actually care for you?" Nicolette asked, "Did she feed you, clothe you, and give you room and board?" Darius's eye twitched. That question was a trap, but he had to answer. He nodded stiffly.

"Yes, she did," he growled.

"And you think to repay her with this horrible, false allegation?" Nicolette asked, raising an eyebrow, "You think to repay her by making your dear aunt stand trial? By making her suffer this humiliation? All by _your_ hands!?"

"_I WAS RAPED BECAUSE OF HER!_" Darius yelled, standing up out of his seat. Though fury had taken over, tears fell from his eyes again, and silence befell the rest of the court as he said, "You really think I'm lying!? Call Cabellero up, it's his scumbag gang that did it! They'll tell you everything! They're rotting in prison, I'm _sure_ they'll give you a testament to her actions!" Nicolette sighed, her lips thinning as she tried to figure out how to get Darius to calm down. But it was too late; she had trapped Rita. No amount of Rita's cunning would escape with everything her nephews had stated.

"Before this is over… I need to know: have you any physical proof of that?" Nicolette asked. Darius was ready to blow his top at her, but then he seemed to see that her mouth was moving, though she didn't make a sound. Upon reading her lips, he heard her say, 'this will get her arrested if you do.' He understood, even though Nicolette was defending her, she knew Rita was guilty. He nodded and took off his shirt, turning around to display his back. A large, snaking scar covered it, and the skin around the scar looked green with infection.

"_This_ is what I get for reporting a rape," Darius replied, showing his back, "Those results… prove that I was, but Rita did this." Once again, the jury gasped at the sight of Darius's injury, and Joker winced when he saw it. Nebelstern, who was usually undaunted with injury, bit his lip and held back a retch. Only Rita seemed unaffected by it, and Gustave looked at her curiously.

"Darius… is there… any way that you could have mistaken how you received that?" Nicolette asked gently, "It has been ten years, according to the result sheets. Is there any way that it was a mere accident?" Darius shook his head and glared at Rita.

"There's no way this was an accident," he said gravely, "_She_ did this to me." He pointed directly at her, and finally, Rita screamed as that finger was pointed right in her direction. She stood up, despite Nicolette's request that she sit down.

"Oh please! You honestly think I'd believe a kid over a group of wealthy clients!?" she spat, "You little snake! You vermin! I should've done _worse_ to you, but you just wouldn't shut that damn mouth of yours! You kept crying, begging me to leave you alone! I had to toughen a snot like you up!"

"Rita, stop it! You're making this worse!" Nicolette yelled, and even Kelvin tried to help her calm her client down. But there was no stopping it. They tried to restrain her, but she pushed Nicolette away and slammed Kelvin in the face with her fists.

"Let go of me, you money-pinching leeches!" she yelled angrily, "I know you… I know _all_ of you! You think I'm cruel!? The world is cruel; I'm just teaching my family that life isn't a bowl of cherries!"

"You nearly beat us to death!" Darius yelled, laying a hand on Joker to keep him still, as he was starting to shake with terror, "The only reason I didn't cop you was because of my brother! I couldn't risk you killing him for this!"

"_ORDER IN THIS COURT IMMEDIATELY!_" Gustave finally yelled, his voice thundering above the rest as he stood up. Immediately, everyone silenced themselves, even Kelvin, who was whimpering as he tried to fix his now-broken nose. Gustave sighed and said, "Rita, you're going to be held in contempt of court if you do not settle that tongue."

"Oh, come on! You already know she did this!" Red exclaimed, and Gustave turned to him as Fuse slapped his forehead and shook his head, unable to believe Red was stupid enough to speak out like that.

"Silence, or you will be held in contempt as well," Gustave said, and glanced over to the jury, who were murmuring and whispering. Wil Knights glared at Rita, but then went to talking to his fellow jurors. Gustave then turned to Nicolette and asked, "Have you any more questions?"

"Sir, I'm afraid that nothing my client could say will erase what she has already yelled," Nicolette replied, shaken by the commotion Rita had started, "At best, we could move with a psyche defense, but…"

"I am _NOT_ crazy!" Rita screamed. Nicolette's lips thinned and Gustave nodded. Nicolette had given up; there was nothing she could actually do now, but she dismissed Joker and Darius, and called Rita to the stand. This was a losing case for her, and with Kelvin out of commission thanks to Rita, no amount of defense would get her off of that charge, even if Nicolette suggested an emotional break.

"Rita, can you explain to us just why you gave your nephews such harsh, oft-seen uncaring treatment?" Nicolette asked, "Can you tell us why you chose to be harsh rather than mother them when their own mother was found dead?"

"That bitch murdered our mother!" Darius yelled angrily, and Gustave gave him one last warning as Nebelstern restrained him. Rita snorted with amusement before she chose to answer Nicolette. She smiled. It was a smile so sickening, that Blue half-wished he and Rouge stayed in their fused form.

"Why, I was simply testing a new theory in parenting," Rita stated calmly, as though nothing had happened in the court, "See, I have a theory that babying your children will make them soft. That, by being tough yet strict, you can show them a better future where they'll know the consequences of their actions. I was… _preparing_ them." Joker gritted his teeth, and Blue knew it was getting hard for him to remain quiet as well. Nicolette hesitated, and Kelvin noticed she was twitching. She turned to Kelvin.

"Your witness," she said, "I have… no further questions." Kelvin nodded, and stepped up, despite his nose being crooked and bashed in. He had every intention of winning now, and he hoped Nicolette wouldn't form a solid defense while he questioned her.

"Did you ever want kids, Rita?" he asked coldly, pacing around the chamber again, "Tell me, did it ever cross you that you would be a good mother?"

"Well, I had no choice once Darius and Steven were at my doorstep," Rita replied, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"If you hated kids, why not send your nephews off to an orphanage?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "You had more than enough money. Isn't it true that, in your statement with the agency, you said '_If I must oblige with taking these little cretins, then I'll do as I see fit_?" Rita blinked, and when Gustave looked at Kelvin critically, he said, "Exhibit B, your Lordship. The document attesting to Rita's adoption of her nephews." He gave the document in question to the jury.

"Well, I… I… I was doing my best, and…" Rita stammered, and Kelvin knew he was getting her on thin ice.

"And did you see fit to send your 15-year-old nephew to an abandoned warehouse where you _knew_ dangerous men lived!?" Kelvin asked, "Did you see fit to _starve_ these kids when they botched a job because of their age, or when they couldn't do what you asked!? Did you honestly see fit to punish them for no reason!?"

"Objection!" Nicolette called, "He's badgering, your Lordship!"

"Overruled," Gustave replied, "Rita, answer the questions." Rita blinked, unable to form a good lie, or defense, whichever she decided to head. Gustave warned her once more about being held in contempt.

"I thought I was doing what was right," she finally said quietly. Kelvin's eyes narrowed and he came so close that his broken nose was just inches from hers.

"And did you think it was right to whip your nephew to near death for telling you he was raped?" he asked dangerously, "When he needed you most, you thought it best to beat him as though what happened was his fault? When he _needed_ love, and attention, and medication, what did you do?" Rita remained silent, and Gustave finally told her he would arrest her if she didn't speak, and that execution was well on the mark. She forced her mouth to open.

"I beat his pathetic ass into the ground," she murmured. Kelvin didn't back away. They remained inches from one another.

"Then I hope you rot in hell for it," he said, and looked at Gustave, "No questions."

"Nicolette, have you any more questions for this witness?" Gustave asked. Nicolette shook her head as she stood up again.

"No, your Lordship. I've asked all I can," she replied. Gustave nodded, and as he saw the jury write something down, he called Nebelstern. After a brief word, Nebelstern approached the jury, took the slip Wil handed him, and gave it to Gustave. He glanced at it, frowned, and looked at the jury again.

"Has the Jury reached a verdict?" he asked. Wil Knights stood up and nodded, and so Gustave asked, "In all due charges and assaults made and reported, how do you find?" Wil cleared his throat, and with nods from the rest of his fellows, he sighed.

"We of this courtroom find Rita Andorf guilty on all charges."

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Holy howling hullabaloo, Rita's been charged with all accounts she's been reported on! And, it's pretty much unanimous, too, as even Nicolette seemed to refuse to defend her after a while. But what will be brought out of the witch with her acts finally brought to justice? Can Nebelstern successfully arrest and restrain her where even Fuse failed to do so? What awaits her now that the trial is over? With Gustave leading the court, instead of the Trinity headmaster, can he successfully deal justice to such a severe criminal? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	23. Everybody hates Ciato

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier 1 or 2. SquareSoft does, and they're impressed that Gustave was able to hold court so well.

Guilty. The verdict had been guilty. Now, Rita was going to be put away. All that was left was for Gustave to announce the sentence that was due, and as the jury sat back down, he seemed to be pondering this. Execution was definitely on the mark, but in what form? Gustave couldn't figure out which one was most honorable. Finally, though, he forced himself to decide. He couldn't keep the court waiting for too long. After all, he knew Fuse and his own troupe had other cases to solve.

"As I see fit, Rita Andorf, you will be executed within the week," Gustave said calmly, "By way of the Blade of Hahn Nova. Nebelstern, take her to her cell." Nebelstern nodded, and with a stiff stride across the chamber, reached Rita, handcuffed her, and was leading her away. As they passed Gustave, he looked at the woman and said, "I suggest you behave yourself during your wait, or your death will be premature." Rita said nothing as she left the courtroom with the officer after that. One by one, Gustave thanked and dismissed all manner of the court, and with the exception of his siblings and Kelvin, as well as Fuse's team, the room was emptied within the hour.

"I can't believe it settled that quickly!" Fuse exclaimed, walking up to where Gustave and Kelvin were standing, "Back in Trinity, we'd probably be in here all night. The world can rest a little easier now." Gustave nodded, but his face looked too grim for someone who just served justice.

"I fear the damage to her nephews has already been done, though," Gustave remarked sadly, and then to Kelvin, he asked, "How is your nose?"

"Broken, but it should be fine in a few days," Kelvin replied, "So, will you all be staying?" He looked at Fuse, who shrugged.

"It depends on if we get ourselves another case," the cop replied casually, "The bosses back home said this was the most difficult one, so I'm guessing we've got a pretty light load back at IRPO." Gustave nodded, and Fuse grinned. At least for the rest of the day, they'd be staying here. Or so, Fuse had thought. He went to talk to Blue, but just as he reached the younger man, his phone rang. Annoyed, Fuse picked it up and said, "Yeah? Really? He… he's enlisting human help!? But… okay, okay! We'll check it out. Yes, we're still in the area. No, I don't know why a Mystic would be flying out this way. Fine. Bye." He hung up his phone and sighed. Blue and Rouge exchanged worried glances, and finally, Blue decided to speak.

"What's wrong, sir?" he asked, his mouth frowning slightly.

"Some punk-assed Mystic decided that Facinaturu wasn't a good place to live, so he flew over to the Hahn Nova area and took residence here," Fuse replied, "Unfortunately, he didn't actually tell Orlouge he's leaving, so the Mystic Lord filed a missing person report. And guess who gets to scout the little bastard out."

"But isn't that a job normally for the guys on the second floor?" Rouge asked, raising a concerned brow as he crossed his arms, "Why involve detectives like us?"

"Two reasons, kid," Fuse told him, "First off, this Mystic's a known trouble-maker. I doubt he'd keep his location too long before we noticed him. Second off, Orlouge has his suspicions about this Mystic. He's not dangerous, but he's been known to rebel against the Lord himself. If this guy has anything going on, we're to put a stop to it." Blue nodded, but Rouge wasn't entirely convinced. If the man in question wasn't a threat, then there really didn't seem to be enough reason to call out their squad. Maybe it was simply because they were already _in_ Hahn Nova.

"Did they say where this guy's living?" Rouge asked. Fuse hummed, and then shook his head, causing Rouge to growl with displeasure. The last thing he wanted was to go on a goose chase.

"They couldn't get specifics. Hahn Nova's a huge place," Fuse told him carefully, "But they do know there are high levels of ore wherever he's living," with this, he turned back to Gustave, "I have to ask, do you have any mines or underground caves near this place?" Gustave raised a particularly amused brow; it was clear he didn't know. Kelvin, however, nodded as he held a tissue to his nose, which began to bleed again. Fuse glanced at him, urging him to explain.

"There's an abandoned ruin far east of here. It's shaped like a very old coliseum," Kelvin began, wrinkling his nose as it slowly stopped bleeding, "The center itself doesn't have any pathways, but there were a few smaller buildings around the area that had stairs leading downward. We've never been down there, but that's supposedly where the ore for all of our tools come from." Fuse's eyes narrowed. He didn't like the sound of a ruin, but it was worth checking out; it was the only lead they had as of now. He looked back at Blue and Rouge, wondering their opinions on the ordeal. Rouge didn't appear to care too much. Blue, however, jerked his thumb to the rest of their group.

"Sir, I don't think we should take everyone with us," he reasoned, "At the very least, not Maria, Darius, or Joker. They've had enough for their lives." Fuse had to agree with that. He walked over to the rest of the group, and after a few minutes of debate… and arguing… an agreement was made. Maria, Darius, and Joker would be flown back to IRPO, accompanied by Roufas and Red. Emelia was flying back with them, but she had to catch another plane to Baccarat immediately after they landed. After that, Red and Roufas would assist Fuse remotely from one of IRPO's offices as Fuse, Blue, and Rouge descended into the ruins. It seemed a decent plan, and as the three in question watched as their friends climbed into their plane and take off, a new problem hit Rouge as their plane shrank within the horizon.

"Boss, just how do you plan on getting back home?" he asked flatly, and Fuse glanced at him, his eyes now wide with worry, "We're not swimming, are we?" Truth be told… or rather, untold, Fuse hadn't even thought of how to get home now, and he realized they were stuck in Hahn Nova unless he could find a way to get hold of another ship. No doubt, IRPO wouldn't be able to send one immediately. And, if what Nebelstern had said about their slow advancement into modern technology was true, he doubted Gustave would have a plane for them to use. Their boats were too slow. Fuse cursed, and wanted to throw a tantrum to his stupidity at the moment, but didn't. That wouldn't help their problem at all. Instead, he simply sighed.

"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see if we can get a signal out here," Fuse told him, "We can get incoming calls, but making them is a tad more difficult, soldier. I'm sure someone will call us eventually, though." He chuckled as he said the last part, but it certainly didn't seem to make Rouge feel any better. Nor did it lighten Blue up, either, as he too heard the concern from Rouge. Rouge's eyes narrowed as sweat rolled off of his head.

"Sometimes, your amount of concern towards our predicaments amazes me, sir," he mumbled, and then turned to Blue, "Should we start our little search?"

"We might as well," Blue replied calmly, though he too was nervous as to how they'd get home, "According to the map Nebelstern gave us, the ruins are about four miles east of the city. Even if we walk, it's no more than two hours. The question is, are we all up to it?" Fuse nodded; he was always up for a walk. Rouge, however, moaned miserably. There was no way he wanted to walk over four miles to one place. His expression must've made that clear, because Fuse looked over at him critically.

"Stop your griping, boy," he said firmly, "Why, when I was in the army, we were hit when _we_ cried. There's no reason we can't survive a 4-mile hike. I say we go." And so, the great hike began. It took little enough time to get out of the city, but when they reached the wilderness was when it became difficult to cope with. The forest outside of the city was dense, and the water from an earlier storm hadn't yet soaked up into the earth, making the ground slippery and muddy, which slowed their progress. And, to make matters worse, monsters did indeed live there. Nothing that couldn't be taken out with a well-aimed Energy Chain, but again, it added to their slow progress.

"Can we gripe _now_?" Rouge finally asked, after nearly an hour and a half of tedious work had passed them, "How do you know we're even going the right way!?"

"There's only one path to take, Rouge," Blue told him flatly, letting him look at the map, "Besides, Kelvin said the ruins were fairly large. I doubt we'd be able to miss them." Rouge gritted his teeth. That was a point he couldn't argue with right then, and so, they continued on in silence. Everywhere they turned seemed to go on forever and ever, and by the time they even reached one clearing, the sun was beginning to sink in the afternoon sky, sending pink edges along the clouds. Blue looked up at the sky as Rouge slumped against a tree, tired out from their trek in the wilderness.

"Please tell me we're nearly there," he panted heavily, ready to collapse the moment he moved again. Blue hummed, and examined the map a little more. According to it, they were very close, but as he looked around, he saw nothing even relating to the fact that they were near any sort of ruin at large. Carefully, he picked his way through the brush to the north, and emerged in another clearing. There, he finally saw traces of the ruin in question. Limestone bricks, no bigger than the ones used in his homeland, littered the ground around him, and as he surveyed the entire scene, he saw that there _were_ smaller buildings around the large, circular coliseum as Kelvin had said. Excitedly, he turned back to where he had left Rouge and Fuse.

"I think I've found it!" he called, and immediately, his companions ran over, gasping at the sight they now beheld. The coliseum itself was in rather remarkable condition, considering how long it must've been standing. Only a few chunks were missing from the large dome. The buildings around it, however, looked much less impressive. Most of their roofs had fallen and caved in on themselves, and a few walls were crumbling as well, making it easy access to any thieves looking to pick the area out. Rouge looked around the area and whistled.

"This definitely looks creepy enough to house a few Mystics," he commented, "But which house do we go down?"

"I don't think it matters," Blue told him calmly, "If what Kelvin said about an underground mine is true, I bet they all lead to the same tunnel system." Fuse nodded his head, silently agreeing. They picked the closest entrance available, in the form of a tiny shack that looked like any form of weight would knock it over. It was too small to house anything useful, but the entrance into the underground was just tight enough to fit. They climbed down the rocky, slippery stairs, Blue noticing instantly that the temperature dropped as soon as they reached the bottom, and that the light only spilled so far from the top; the rest of the light came reflecting off of tiny pieces of ore.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Rouge whispered, eyes widened as he studied a piece of red ore, "Think this is where Furgo got all the ore he used to make our school supplies?" Blue laughed; he didn't actually know what the old man did, but he _had_ found that Furgo was importing _something_ illegal to the Magic Kingdom. And, judging from Rouge's question, he found out about the smuggling as well.

"I have no idea," Blue replied, amused, "Why don't we go back and ask him?"

"Blue, we've been booted out of the kingdom for the rest of eternity," Rouge reminded him bitterly, "Damn assholes couldn't even thank you for kicking the lord of Hell's butt just because we accidentally trashed the place. I say we're better off without them!" Blue laughed again, feeling bad that he had reminded Rouge of just why they were forced to live in Devon. Fuse simply rolled his eyes; he didn't do a background check, but he didn't want to hear a sad story, either. Before Rouge became too involved in his anger at their masters, Blue urged him to continue along, with Fuse turning on a flashlight to help them see even further. It was damp in the tunnels, and every time a drop of water splashed onto the ore, it made a gentle chime that echoed throughout the entire tunneling system. It was loud; all three of them were worried the Mystic might bolt if he thought he was being followed.

"Now that I think about it, I always wondered what Mystics deemed as nice homes," Fuse commented, grinning as he looked around, "I myself enjoy a nice apartment, but it looks like these guys will always love darkness."

"Princess Lion actually hates it in Facinaturu," Blue told him, glancing behind him at the cop in question, "She wants to know what the outside world is like. She's only been there a few times. I think that's why so many Mystics run away. They don't like Facinaturu as much as they used to."

"Oh, and I can't see why," Rouge stated sarcastically, "I'd have thought they loved their spindly castles and their bats' nests… and their mountains! So many damn mountains in Facinaturu. It's like they're afraid of humans. Well, I mean, they probably are, but _damn_! We're not that bad, are we?" Fuse chuckled as they continued down a rather steep climb… or more, a descent.

"Considering the fact that we think some of them are monsters, I'd say they think we're bad enough," Fuse told him calmly, and then suddenly stopped, "…do I hear rushing water?" Blue and Rouge came to a halt as well, and listened. Something did appear to be trickling in the distance. Raising a concerned brow, both brothers walked ahead toward the source, and within a moment, came to a large, circular chamber where a waterfall was rushing from one of the pipes grafted into the wall. It splashed into a large pit down deep below on another level, but what truly worried Blue were the workers gathered around. When they saw Fuse's flashlight, some of them screamed and cowered, but a quick word from Rouge calmed them down.

"Whoa, whoa! Stop! We're the police!" Rouge yelled, knowing he was hard to hear over the sound of rushing water, "We're on your side!" Fuse carefully walked over, looking at the workers with the help of his light. They were terrified of something, and their pale skin was proof that either they'd been trapped here for some time, or there was something that was tormenting them. One brave soul of a worker rushed over to Fuse.

"Are you really from IRPO!?" the worker asked, reading Fuse's nametag, "Oh, thank heavens! There's a monster in this cave! It's scaring all of the workers, and no matter what we do, it just won't leave!"

"Calm down, good citizen," Fuse said sternly, taking out a notepad, "What exactly did this monster look like?" The workers looked at each other, all of them shivering as they recalled just what their newfound horror looked like.

"Well, it looked kind of human, but it had bat wings!" one cried, "Big, giant, black bat wings! And it's hair! Oh my god, I've never seen such purple hair in my life! And those red eyes! I'm telling you, he was a monster!" Fuse's lips tightened. That was no monster; in fact, he had _seen_ who was being described back in Orlouge's castle. He turned back to Blue and Rouge, both who seemed to have recognized the description as well.

"That sounds like Ciato," Rouge said bitterly, frowning, "Somehow, I don't know whether to be surprised or not." Blue actually laughed. Ciato was probably the most rebellious Mystic on earth, so it didn't surprise him at all that the old bat would move here. He chuckled a bit, and then shook his head, his chest heaving with amusement.

"Let's go and get him, then," he said, grinning, "I'm going to guess Orlouge's not too angry at this, but Ciato will probably cause some havoc if we don't put him in line." Fuse nodded, agreeing completely. Ciato had been reported enough times to be burned into the older cop's memory for life. Blue then turned to a worker and asked, "Where is this monster of yours?"

"Right this way," one worker replied, and led them away from the waterfall to a path on the other side of the chamber. The stairs went downward, but even so, the light reflecting off of the ore was much brighter, as though Ciato's magic was invigorating them. The smell of fresh earth and metal was strong, and almost refreshing to Blue as they continued to descend the dark tunnels, whose walls slowly changed from a dark, rocky grey to a polished blue. The blue was so shiny, that it actually acted as a mirror, reflecting everyone perfectly as they walked. Staring only for a second, Blue accidentally walked right into the worker in question, who shivered and pointed into another chamber. "In there… it's in there," the worker replied. Blue nodded and thanked him, and then walked casually into the room, with Rouge and Fuse close behind. Ciato was definitely inside, lying on a bed of coins and ore, which he either found or just stole for his own use. His wings ruffled calmly as he held one coin in his pale hand, smiling at it. However, out of the corner of his eye, he did catch a movement by the door, and turning his head, he happened to see Blue.

"…oh man, not you again!" Ciato cried, dropping the coin, "Let me guess… Orlouge called you all to find me, and now you're going to drag me all the way back to Facinaturu." Fuse snorted. That was a highly accurate accusation on the Mystic's part. And, if only to prove the point further, Fuse took out a pair of cuffs.

"You got that one on the nose," Fuse replied, "Now, come on, you've been arrested enough to know the procedure." Ciato simply rolled his eyes and moved up off of his bed, but Blue took the cuffs away.

"Sir, I don't think we need to arrest him," Blue stated, and then turned to the Mystic in question, "Why did you run away this time?" Ciato blinked, never having actually considered the question. He had no reason, honestly. He laughed nervously.

"I guess I just felt like it," Ciato replied, "I mean, Orlouge's okay, but he's doting on his little harem too much. I want to have some fun, too! I'm sick of babysitting a bunch of bratty girls because Orlouge likes having umpteen some-odd girlfriends! I figured, if I left and started my own colony, I could finally have the dream _I_ planned for myself, and not some stupid job that I was assigned because I happen to be Orlouge's servant." Blue actually laughed at that explanation, causing the Mystic to glare at him furiously.

"Wow, Rouge, he sounds like you," Blue commented, "You two might just get along." Rouge glared at Blue as well, and then noticed Ciato was looking at him.

"He _is_ good-looking for a human," Ciato commented, and Rouge's eye twitched.

"Stay away from me!" he cried, leaping behind Blue, "This freak should be arrested for staring at a cop! Fuse, book him!" Fuse shrugged, taking the cuffs back, but Blue sighed, and this time, actually imploded the cuffs. He shook his head, and looked over at Ciato.

"Okay, I know you're angry with Orlouge, but what about Ildon and Rastaban?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow, "They're going to be taking the brunt of his anger over you. Do you really want to put them through that?" Ciato looked up thoughtfully, obviously considering what Blue had just said. It was a sound gesture.

"I guess not," Ciato replied finally, "I mean, Ildon's a bastard sometimes, but Rastaban's a sweetheart. He'd be heartbroken if I didn't come back and take the two of them along. I know they're tired of living with Orlouge, too." Ciato grinned, and then actually noticed the effect his words had. Blue's face was flushed with crimson, and Rouge's eyes looked ready to pop. Only Fuse seemed even remotely calm about what Ciato was implying. The Mystic himself was starting to laugh at their reactions, and Rouge earned him the highest enjoyment.

"…_WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU PEOPLE!?_" Rouge yelled, not caring how loud he was, "You've got a ruler who has billions of wives, and then you yourself are in some screwed up love-triangle with _Ildon and Rastaban_! Don't even get me started with Asellus and…"

"Shut up!" Ciato snapped, suddenly frowning, "So we're of different sexual orientations than you! So what!? You don't see _US_ yelling at _YOU_ for being such close-minded bastards! Now, are you going to arrest me for running away, or are you going to continue making me feel bad for having a boyfriend… or two…?" Rouge's eye twitched again, and he screamed, telling Blue that this was entirely up to him. Likewise, Blue agreed, silently worrying that Rouge's brain might have actually snapped. He sighed.

"Calm down, Ciato. No one's trying to make you feel bad," Blue replied calmly, "Rouge's just sore with the idea. Most guys think he's a woman, so he's touchy when it comes to that. But, we do need to at least tell Orlouge where you are so he's not assuming you to be dead." Ciato seemed to calm down from that, and nodded, glancing around the room he'd made his residence. He sighed; he didn't actually _want_ to go back to Facinaturu, but he _did_ miss both Ildon and Rastaban enough to actually let himself be arrested.

"Fine, we'll go back to Facinaturu," he said grimly, frowning, "Just… don't… don't blow up like that in front of Rastaban when we get there. You might actually make him cry." Blue hid a snort and simply nodded, but Rouge rolled his eyes, unable to believe just how much he found out about Ciato within five minutes of speaking with the Mystic. Silently, the four of them walked out, and back through the tunnels, the workers cowering as Ciato came into view. He simply grinned and waved, causing more alarm from the workers, until Fuse threatened to kick him, which got the Mystic going again. Finally, after a brief, brisk ascent, they were back up into daylight… or whatever was left of it. The wind was brisk, the sky cloudless and a hazy orange. Ciato looked overjoyed as he breathed in the air and said, "Wonderful! This would be a perfect night for flying."

"Speaking of flying, _boss_, we still have no way of getting this idiot to Facinaturu," Rouge reminded Fuse bluntly, crossing his arms, "Now what do we do!?" Fuse growled and glared at Rouge, obviously not appreciating the total lack of respect the magician showed for him. Blue glanced at both of them, but it was Ciato himself who offered help.

"Don't you guys have that Regional map you use to jump around the world?" he asked, "I've seen you use it once." Blue blinked. He had nearly forgotten about that! But his had been destroyed in Hell. Sadly, he hung his head.

"I no longer have mine," he said sadly, "And Rouge… Rouge?" Blue glanced and saw Rouge take something small out of his pocket, grinning all the while, especially as Blue asked, "Where did you get that!?"

"I… _might_ have taken it from Indigo back at the kingdom," Rouge said, and then laughed as Blue exclaimed, "You… _YOU STOLE FROM THE DEAD!? ROUGE, ARE YOU CRAZY!?_"

"Seems I'm not the only one who has an odd quirk about me," Ciato commented, smiling. Rouge twitched again, and Blue simply ignored the Mystic as he worried himself into a frenzy over Rouge's theft. Even Fuse seemed shocked that one of his own men committed a crime.

"Wow, son, I have to say that I find that a little deplorable," Fuse said sternly, and Blue smiled… until Fuse's next sentence came out, "But, if it'll help us, I can let your little theft slide." Blue's eyes widened in pure disbelief, and Rouge grinned even more. He unrolled the map, and pressed on the continent that was marked as "Facinaturu." Almost instantly, they were thrown into a pocket of space as the world below them spun like a globe, finally stopping on the continent in question. Then, slowly, they descended from the pocket of space onto the world below, and then they fell so quickly that within seconds, they somehow landed. And now, they stood right outside the gates of Orlouge's castle. Ciato looked around, mostly unimpressed by the scene.

"Oh goody, I'm right back in hell," Ciato growled, and then yelped as someone rapped him on the back of the head, causing him to fall over. Angrily, he scrambled up, and saw his attacker was none other than Ildon as he said, "Damn it, why did you do that!?"

"For making everyone else worry about you," Ildon said sternly, frowning as he crossed his arms, "I myself almost hoped you'd crumpled up in a heap and died, but I guess someone up there just doesn't like me too much." Ciato's eyes narrowed, and Blue seemed intent to just watch what unfolded between the two Mystics.

"That's not a nice thing to say to someone you've been with for the past two hundred years," Ciato stated, and then asked, "How's Rastaban doing?" Ildon uncrossed his arms, and for a second, his stern expression broke into a softened sadness as he looked down. It was obvious that Rastaban's condition wasn't good.

"He's still recovering from whatever you did to him," Ildon spat bitterly, "I'd half a mind to kill you myself for almost killing him. He begged me not to, though why _he_ still loves you is a mystery to me. I know I've had it with you and your double-crossing ways. Is that why you ran away?" Ciato shook his head, his usually prideful grin broken and his feelings stung by Ildon's words.

"Of course not," Ciato replied gently, "Ildon… I had every intention of coming back for you both. I ran away because I'm sick of watching over Orlouge's women. I wasn't trying to double-cross you. Nomad… Nomad was a mistake." Blue was surprised to find that he actually pitied Ciato right now, as the man's mistake really was kicking him now. Rouge was even more surprised to find he felt the same way as well. Ildon's eyes lost some of their hatred toward Ciato as he looked at the Mystic.

"…Orlouge is pissed right now," Ildon warned calmly, looking up at Ciato, "I think you'd better see him before we visit Rastaban." Ciato sighed; he was waiting for this to come. And, he knew it was better to see his master sooner rather than later. He nodded, and Ildon turned around, opening the large, ivy-covered gates into the huge castle. The two walked inside, and a quick glance from Ildon told Blue that they were permitted to enter as well. They walked across the large, expansive chamber; two paths spread out from the left and right, and the northern wall was adorned with two large staircases that wound around the circular room, with a large door in between the staircases that led to the throne room. In the middle of the current room was a large pedestal, depicting a beautiful, red rose in its center. Rouge shivered as they passed it.

"I keep forgetting how creepy this place is," Rouge commented, as Ildon led them to the throne room. Even from the doorframe, Blue saw Orlouge sitting on his throne, joined by two of his princesses, Asellus, and Lion, who looked ecstatic to see Blue as she smiled warmly. He waved back, and then looked to Orlouge as Ildon formerly introduced the two parties. The Mystic knelt down, dragging Ciato with him so he could show proper respect.

"Dearest Lord Orlouge, these men have returned with Ciato, unharmed," Ildon reported, and then glared at Ciato, "Unharmed for now, anyway. Do you wish to reward them for their mediocre performance?" Orlouge chuckled, amused with Ildon's distaste for humans, and nodded, peering at Blue and Rouge.

"I remember you both," he said calmly, "You have done me yet again a great service. I thank you kindly. Perhaps passage into Facinaturu and access to my best forces when you need them is enough?" Fuse's mouth dropped open in disbelief, and he was about to yell a strong protest, when Blue intervened. He knew anything Fuse said would definitely be taken as an insult. Besides, Orlouge's gift may prove incredibly useful later.

"Yes, sir! Thank you!" Blue said quickly, Fuse glaring at him all the while, "We accept your gift with nothing but gratitude!" Orlouge chuckled, sensing why Blue was speaking so quickly. It all amused the Charm Lord greatly. He looked over at Asellus and nodded, allowing her and Lion to see their friends now, both of whom ran over to them. Asellus hugged Rouge as Lion dove at Blue, her ears flopping over.

"I think you both are starting to place some trust back into your race with us all," Asellus replied softly, as Lion said, "I always knew there were good men out there somewhere! Orlouge said he didn't believe me, and even he was wrong!" Orlouge chuckled again, as Lion and Blue stood up, both looking over at Ildon, who seemed to be arguing with Ciato over something. Finally, when the Mystics realized they were being watched, Ildon sighed and walked over.

"We're going to see Rastaban now. Will you come with us?" he asked, glaring at Ciato all the while, who stuck his tongue out childishly. Fuse nodded.

"Of course. Besides, if your friend dies, we need to take Ciato in for assault and murder," the cop replied, as Ciato moaned angrily. They left Orlouge, Asellus, and Lion, and went up to the second floor, Ildon leading the way to where Rastaban was kept. They exited the central tower and crossed the bridge extending high about the city below, and finally came to a smaller tower, where Ildon pushed open the door. There, Princess White Rose sat, watching a figure as it rested in bed. That figure was Rastaban; pale, sickly, and nearly lifeless. He smiled as soon as he saw Ildon.

"Nusakan says I'll make it," he whispered, as Ildon walked over and took his hand, "It was a heavy spell, though. He's surprised I lived." Ildon nodded and kissed Rastaban's cheek as Ciato stalked over slowly, frowning as he looked at the man's frail form.

"I'm sorry I did that, Rast," Ciato replied, "I had to make it look convincing, though. But… no one should experience Pain Double like that…" Rastaban simply smiled at him, his blue eyes filling with tears as he held Ildon's hand in one hand, and Ciato's in the other.

"I'm just glad you came back to us," Rastaban replied, "I… was so worried… you left." Ciato nodded as Ildon sighed heavily.

"Likewise, I was terrified I'd lose both of you," Ildon added, a slim smile finally crossing his face, "I'm glad you both are safe." Blue smiled as the three Mystics hugged each other, and Rouge looked ready to throw up whatever he'd eaten that day. Fuse seemed the least inspired to react as he watched, and finally whistled.

"Well, all's well and good, and no one needs to be jailed," he commented, as everyone in the room looked at him, "I'd say we did all right today. Let's head back to office and see what else we have to do." Blue arched a concerned brow, and Rouge sighed, shaking his head. They hadn't actually been given any rewards, but Fuse didn't appear to care much for that now; it was obvious he was getting sick of Facinaturu. When Rouge didn't respond, Fuse angrily turned to him, brows furrowed as he pointed to the map in Rouge's belt.

"Take that map out and use it, soldier, or you're fired."

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Well, at least Blue and Rouge managed to get Ciato back to Facinaturu without losing any vital organs, and at least they had a tour of Hahn Nova as well. But, they may have learned more about Mystic romance than they wanted to see. Anyway, once they had back to IRPO, what other jobs will be assigned to them? Will the offices even be open after Rita's attack on the building? And how close are they to actually paying IRPO off for Rouge's debt? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	24. A new spin on Bacteriology

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they can't believe I'd pluck Ciato right in a pair with Rastaban and Ildon. I can't believe I did that, either.

"So, that's it? You're leaving now?" Ciato asked, as he saw Rouge reluctantly take out his Region Map and unfold it, "Don't you humans want some sort of reward?" Blue glanced at Fuse skeptically, wondering what his answer could possibly be. Yes, a reward sounded nice, but Orlouge had already given them the best they could ask; alliance with the Mystics for helping him twice. Fuse seemed to know this as well as he turned to Ciato, raising an eyebrow when he saw that Ciato's hair wasn't purple anymore; it was blonde. That, unfortunately, was another mystery in and of itself.

"Nope," he replied, "Gold and fame is nice, but knowing we did a job well done and helped three Mystics find their true love is reward enough. Just don't run away again or I'll definitely arrest you next time." Ciato snorted, feeling that was highly unlikely to happen; he _was_, after all, Orlouge's general. But, nonetheless, he was thankful as he shook hands with the cop. Ildon nodded, and turned to Blue.

"Honestly, thank you for all the help you've given us. Lion's absolutely ecstatic with the fact that you can come and go as you want now," Ildon told him, sounding genuinely happy, "If you need help with an investigation, we'll come as soon as we can." Blue agreed to that, and they also shook hands. Rouge rolled his eyes, gesturing for Blue to move it before he left without them, and as he finally got to unrolling his map, Rastaban waved goodbye to them.

"Good luck, my dears!" he called, as Rouge's eye twitched at being addressed as such, "If you ever visit us again, I'll make sure your welcome is a grand one!" Ildon laughed, patting Rastaban on the back, and Ciato simply grinned as he saw Rouge twitch, mockingly blowing the man a kiss, which resulted in a scream of terror. Blue looked at his twin, raising a worried brow. Rouge glared at him, even though technically he did nothing wrong.

"_LET'S GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I KILL SOMEONE!_" he growled, and smashed his hand on the symbol that would take them to IRPO. Without another word, they were warped out of Rastaban's apartment, thrown into a void of space, and simply swam around as their map worked on locating IRPO. When it finally found its course, the feeling of being thrown around returned, and soon, they all landed with a heavy thud in the quad of the building. Slowly, difficultly, they all scrambled up, and as Rouge put his map away, Blue turned to him.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked, referring to Rouge's outburst prior to their leaving, "Why are you so angry with the Mystics?"

"They were _hitting_ on me!" Rouge yelled, "And they're _males_! I'm a man, Blue! A _MAN_! I don't _want_ a male lover! I don't _want_ that bat-winged freak blowing sappy kisses at me and telling me he thinks I'm hot!" Blue started laughing as Rouge continued to rant in exasperation, and only when his slowly insanity-driven brother stopped did Blue actually speak.

"So, you're saying that if Ciato was female, you'd consider him?" he asked, and Rouge stopped. Silence fell between them for what felt like a very, very long time. He couldn't believe Blue had even concluded that! That he'd even think that were true! It wasn't, and as Rouge attempted to tell him this, his eye twitched as the accusation played itself again and again in his mind.

"…_NO!_" Rouge screamed, as Fuse took out his phone and called someone on it, "I would not… I would _NEVER_ consider a _MALE MYSTIC!_ Never!" Blue raised an amused eyebrow, trying his best not to laugh at Rouge for throwing himself off the deep end. There was nothing wrong even if he _did_ consider it; after all, homosexuality wasn't a crime unless you fell in love with Orlouge himself.

"Really? By the sound of it, you seem afraid to admit otherwise," Blue stated smugly, crossing his arms, "Are you _sure_ you didn't like Ciato? Even just a little?" Rouge's twitch worsened, and he felt ready to kill Blue, despite the promise he made to himself to never hurt his twin again. He clenched his fists.

"_SHUT UP_!" Rouge yelled, "I do not like Mystics! I will _never_ like Mystics! Just leave me alone!" Fuse sighed and hung up his phone, having barely heard whatever it was Doll was saying to him. Thanks to the twins behind him, he barely understood their new mission, and once again, he had to play father figure to them. He turned to them.

"_Both of you shut up before I shove my blaster up your asses sideways!_" he yelled back, "Now, play nice before I arrest you both for obstruction of justice." Blue and Rouge simply glanced at each other. They couldn't see how they were obstructing justice by arguing, but neither decided to argue with Fuse about it. That would be certain suicide.

"What justice are you talking about?" Blue asked, "We're not on a mission, sir." Fuse looked at him, and grinned as though he were about to contradict Blue. Which, of course, he did.

"Oh yes we are, boy," Fuse told him, "We got a call from Doll up there. Looks like some dumbass doctor in Koorong is spreading some sort of plague in the area. And, judging by the symptoms, it's the same kind of cold Joker had before." Blue's eyes widened at that statement. Rouge blinked, remembering that Joker did indeed have a cold when they first took him into custody. But, it cleared up within less than a day. Could this new plague be that dangerous?

"I don't think we should worry too much, boss," Rouge replied, raising a skeptical brow, "Joker got over his cold really quickly. Wouldn't said disease just pass by?" Fuse shook his head as he ran over and tugged on what looked like a very large tarp.

"Not likely, soldier," Fuse explained grimly, "This doctor's a pro with handling diseases. He's been tinkering with them for a while, so the disease is probably stronger than when Joker contracted it." He finally ripped the tarp off, revealing a large, three-seated motorcycle that glinted in the dim light provided. Rouge's eyes widened with glee as he looked on at their new ride.

"Why would a doctor do this, though?" Blue asked calmly, as he and Rouge walked over, "Who was it?"

"Dr. Nusakan. He's another Mystic that Orlouge banished for being too interested in humans. Mainly, he was into their diseases," Fuse explained, as he looked for the key to the vehicle, "As to why he did this, chances are it wasn't on purpose. He tries to keep to himself, but if he accidentally dumped something into the sewers, it probably got into the town's water supply, thusly making everyone except him sick." He finally found said keys and climbed onto the top seat of the motorcycle, handing Blue and Rouge each a helmet to wear.

"Well, that's stupid," Rouge said as he strapped on his helmet, "Maybe that's why Orlouge banished his sorry ass; maybe he made a princess sick."

"I highly doubt that one, boy. Mystics are completely immune to disease," Fuse stated seriously, "Now get on before I vector the two of you. We don't have time to waste." Rouge and Blue both stared flatly at him. Despite that so-called immunity, Rastaban had still somehow managed to contract his own flu. Deciding not to point that out, both brothers climbed onto the motorcycle, and when they were safely seated, Fuse pumped on the ignition, and the three sped off down the road at a very dangerous speed. It was clear that this alleged disease was a very urgent matter. Quickly, they were away from IRPO's border, and soon enough, they were rushing right through Shrike, where they nearly bowled Red over as he walked across the street.

"Damn it, watch where you're driving, asshole!" he yelled, not realizing he was screaming at Fuse. Fuse looked back and snorted as he lifted up his helmet's vizier.

"Don't make me arrest you, dickweed!" Fuse yelled back, and laughed hysterically as they rounded up a ramp onto a highway leading out of Shrike. Miles flew by within minutes, and Blue barely heard Fuse put on the police siren over the roar of the wind as they rushed by, not caring how many cars they passed or how many laws of the road Fuse was breaking. Only when they sped up and jumped an overpass did Blue even dare to comment on Fuse's driving arrangements.

"Sir, maybe you should slow down!" Blue tried to yell over the wind, "We're… turning into a safety hazard!"

"I know these other cars are a hazard to us, boy!" Fuse yelled back, obviously not having heard correctly, "But we can't stop them! We have to share the road!" Blue sighed. It was obvious that Fuse wouldn't stop driving like a lunatic until they reached Koorong. If they made it there alive, first. He barely felt Rouge tap him on the shoulder, and he glanced back at his brother.

"Why didn't he just ask me to use my Region Map?" Rouge asked, raising a skeptical brow. Blue shook his head, his eyes narrowing. That was a logical question, and one he would never be able to answer. Only Fuse would know why Fuse didn't ask the logical suggestion. After that, silence fell over the three as Fuse continued to drive unsafely toward the large city, obviously feeling his authority would cover any damages he did cause, which was nearly catastrophic at that point. He managed to hit over ten mailboxes as they cut through a rural road, and he definitely committed reckless endangerment as he drove through a mall in a small town just outside of Manhattan, which, from what they saw, was already being worked on to restore. He also ruined a celebration at a large, natural park as he drove through that as well, knocking over poles, banners, statues, and anything else that he deemed "in his way" as he passed. He even vectored a picnic table, which sent him and his team flying through the air, only to crash onto the ground, less than a mile from Koorong. The bike stopped running as it threw them all off. Blue moaned and looked up.

"…way to go, sir," he mumbled, "I think you just destroyed our only ride home." He stood up, dusting his uniform off, and looked at their bike. It was definitely damaged, as smoke billowed out of it. Blue sighed, not knowing if he should be surprised by what he saw; after all, Fuse was the one driving.

"Boss, you really should invest in some driving lessons," Rouge added, as Blue helped him get to his feet, "Seriously, I think you broke enough laws to warrant a lifetime in jail." Blue snorted. That part was true enough, but Fuse didn't appear to be too concerned with it as he took out his badge.

"Well, I don't. I'm a cop, so I can do what I want without being arrested," Fuse told them flatly, sticking his badge on his shirt, "As to the bike, don't worry about it. It was Silence's, and he's a cosplaying bastard anyway. We can just take a plane to IRPO." Blue blinked, unable to believe Fuse had no trouble with destroying someone else's property. He had no idea who Silence was, but he was sure that when he _did_ find out what happened, they would be in a lot of trouble. Or dead. But, he didn't comment as Fuse led them down a dusty road toward the outskirts of the town. It seemed that any destruction that had gone on beforehand had been completely corrected, as the town seemed nearly good as new from what they saw. But, as they came closer, where a few small apartments sat here or there, they saw that no one was outside. For Koorong, that was very unusual.

"Where _is_ everyone?" Rouge asked, when they continued on and went deeper into the city, only to find that all of the stalls were closed, "Are they _all_ sick?"

"Looks that way to me, soldier," Fuse replied grimly, "There's only one person who'd know what the hell was going on here, and as much as I hate him, we should probably look for him."

"Who is he?" Blue asked, as Fuse led them around a corner and up a flight of stairs toward the upper level of the city. The lights that usually showed them that shops had been opened for business were now shut off, making the street much more sinister-looking than they had ever remembered before. It made Blue realize that Koorong wasn't the safest neighborhood, and now he was glad he had gotten an apartment at Devin instead of here. Only when they stopped at a large building with a sign saying "Yum Pizza" did Fuse actually answer Blue.

"It's Roufas," he said bitterly, laying a hand on the knob, "He lives here, and trust me when I said coming here makes my skin crawl." Neither twin doubted that, judging from the last time Fuse had seen Roufas. Carefully, the cop opened the door, but what they did see surprised Blue highly. He expected the place to be in complete ruins, but instead, they were greeted by a peaceful, clean restaurant, complete with tables, booths, stools, and everything else from a five-star establishment. Blue's eyes widened, and Rouge raised a skeptical brow.

"This is pretty nice," he commented, "But why does he live in a pizza parlor? I mean, the perks are good, but the location is terrible."

"That's because this isn't a pizza parlor," Roufas said, coming from the back room and glaring at Fuse, "Nice to see most of you again." Blue snorted with amusement as he shook Roufas's hand, and Fuse just barely grumbled a, "Hello, asshole" to the man. Rouge's eyebrow continued to rise.

"But the sign outside said Yum Pizza," he stated, as Roufas looked at him calmly, "Do you serve _any_ food here?"

"Not to the general public unless Annie and Liza feel like cooking," Roufas replied, smirking, "Anyway, like I said, this isn't a restaurant. This is actually the base for my network, Gradius. I'm the one who called IRPO in for this." Blue bit his lip, trying to repress another snort of laughter. That just felt very ironic for Fuse, since the two obviously hated each other for whatever reason. Fuse himself grumbled again and shook his head, trying to decide if he should paralyze Roufas and save himself a headache, but Blue already beat him to questioning the man.

"What exactly happened?" Blue asked calmly, as Roufas led them to a table, where they all promptly sat down, "We know it involves Dr. Nusakan, but we need some specifics." Roufas nodded slowly, and looked out the window, where a light rain began to fall, as was expected in Koorong; it was usually blustery weather there.

"Well, it started around two days ago, right after we took Joker into custody," Roufas explained, "Annie said that at first, people just started coughing and sneezing. She thought it was some sort of bug, but when people began to pass out, that's when we became concerned. No one will wake up, and the ones who _are_ awake are too terrified to leave their homes. We need to do something, but we can't reach this guy. No one knows where he is." Blue hummed and looked down, trying to think through what he had just been told. This did smell of unnatural causes, but he didn't need to be told that to know it. The problem was, right now, finding Nusakan if what Roufas said was true.

"Do _you_ know where he is?" Rouge asked, and when Roufas shook his head, he exclaimed, "Then why call us!? We can't go on a goose chase when people are dying, man! Can't you help us out a little!?"

"If you just let me speak, I could've said I have an idea as to where he is," Roufas replied shortly, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses, "From what Annie says, there's a building in one of the back alleys in the upper level that has a giant N on it. We think that might be where he lives, since the door _can_ be opened."

"If it _can_ be opened, why didn't you go in and take him out yourself?" Fuse asked him plainly, as Blue sighed and rubbed his face. Roufas's lips thinned.

"Do you have any idea how creepy the atmosphere in that building is?" he asked the cop, "We're sure as hell not going in there. Besides, he's a Mystic. He might actually kill us." Blue sighed, and before Fuse took to insulting Roufas, he took matters into his own hands. He stood up, as Rouge and Fuse looked at him critically.

"Thanks, Roufas. We'll go and take care of the… good doctor," Blue told him kindly, "You stay here, and if anything new happens, call us." Roufas agreed, and so, the three left the building promptly, heading once more into the drizzle of the streets. They walked down the road, trying their best to ignore the fact that it became darker as they made their way to the alley. It _was_ creepy out, now that Roufas had pointed it out, and it made Facinaturu seem like a spectacular display of light, even though the atmosphere reeked of gothic imprisonment. Steeling himself, Blue pushed his way forward, his brother and their boss following just a bit behind. Only when they came to the stairs did Blue stop and look down, causing Rouge to nearly smack into him.

"Blue? What's wrong, bro?" he asked, genuinely concerned for his twin, "You okay?"

"Rouge, you feel that, don't you?" Blue asked, glancing back at his twin, "That magic?" Rouge blinked and took a minute to focus on that. He _did_ feel something ominous, but he simply assumed it was nerves. Now that Blue had mentioned it, he realized the feeling wasn't inward. Something was definitely in the air, aside from the acrid smell of disease and… well, garbage. It was magic; very potent magic, at that.

"Nusakan's _got_ to be close," Rouge concluded, and Blue nodded as he led them down the stairs. Pickbirds were nesting in the piles, but they simply stared at the would-be intruders as Blue, Rouge, and Fuse passed. They didn't appear interested in battling the humans. Blue continued onward toward the landing, and then down another short flight of stairs. The smell of death, the feeling of terror, it all became so much more potent as they walked downward. Blue felt he might actually throw up if it continued to climb to such a degree, but he forced himself to move on.

"It smells like something's died here!" Fuse exclaimed as quietly as he could, "What is with Mystics and being attracted to death?"

"I think it's due to the fact that they're immortal," Blue pointed out gently, "But I agree, this is a bit too much. We'll need to warn him about this." Fuse grunted as he took out a pair of cuffs, as they slowly came closer to the building Roufas had described. It had a large neon N on it, just as he said.

"Forget about warning him, I'm going to arrest him on sight!" Fuse exclaimed angrily, "This is definitely against some form of health violation!" Blue didn't respond. He simply sighed, his lips thin with annoyance at Fuse's usual outburst of irrationality. Walking forward, he gripped the knob of the flimsy wooden door that permitted entrance into the building. That feeling of absolute terror came back, slamming into Blue's stomach like a wrecking ball and nearly physically knocking him backwards. He shook his head, and looked back at Fuse and Rouge, both of whom nodded for him to open the door. He did so, and it practically slid open as he turned the knob. The thin ray of light from the streetlamp spilled into what appeared to be a large, but unoccupied reception area as Blue and his teammates ran inside. Fuse shut the door, blocking out most of the light; the only lights left were from the windows.

"It sure looks creepy enough for a Mystic," Rouge replied, as he glanced around the room, "I mean, even creepier than Hahn Nova was." Blue silently agreed. The reception desk looked clean, but when he looked it over closely, he saw a thick sheet of dust covered it, which he didn't feel safe to simply sweep off. The bookcase was also quite dusty, and cobwebs were dangling from the top shelf. But, what got Blue's attention most were what was _on_ the shelves. They were not books; or, at least only the topmost shelf had any books. There were jars upon jars on the shelves, each one labeled in a language no one could have read. And, they all had some form of liquid in them. Rouge's skin paled as he looked at a green jar with yellow strips of what looked like film floating in it. He knew it wasn't film; it was some form of germ.

"Should we ring the bell for the doctor?" Blue whispered, glancing at Fuse. But, Fuse simply shook his head. He was looking at someone whom Blue hadn't seen from the lack of light. She was slumped over in the chair, her purple hair falling over her face as though she might have been sleeping. Fuse ushered for the other two to quiet down as he walked over to her.

"Ma'am, are you waiting for someone?" he asked, but she didn't answer, "Ma'am? Please, answer me." He bent down and shook her gently, and she fell to the floor. Blue and Rouge screamed, shocked with how heavy the thud sounded. The woman didn't move. Rouge looked down at her, his eyes widened in terror as he came to the one conclusion he never wanted to see.

"This woman's dead!" he exclaimed, backing away, "Oh my god, it's a corpse!" Blue bit his lip, but just as he was about to move, the woman's head fell off of her body, her hair moving back to reveal not a face, but a skull. It turned to the three and let out a ghastly laugh, one that Blue was sure would drive them to the brinks of insanity unless someone intervened. He grabbed his gun, wincing as he was forced to release one of his ears, which he had covered to avoid her scream. But, just as he loaded it, the scream faded, to be replaced with the chime of a large clock somewhere farther back. Blue looked around the room, and when the clock struck three, another scream from inside the next room sounded.

"What the hell was that!?" Fuse asked, aiming his gun for the door.

"Next…" was the only reply he received. Blue blinked; that voice definitely belonged to a Mystic. He looked to Fuse, but the older cop didn't dare to move. He remained there, glaring at the door. The voice called, "next," again, but again, no one moved. Blue looked at Rouge this time, whose eyes still remained on the body of the dead woman, his hands on the hilt of his gun, but his body too terrified to draw it. Finally, the second door creaked open, and someone's head was just barely visible. His long, black hair fell to the floor, his glasses hiding his green eyes as he frowned at them all.

"I wait not forever. Next, or I will ask you to leave," he said calmly, and was about to close the door, but Fuse was faster. He put his foot down and jammed the door, earning himself an angry growl from the doctor, who asked, "What is it!?" He opened the door and grudgingly let Fuse inside.

"We're here to arrest you for serious and routine violations of the health code," Fuse replied casually, strolling inside, "You _are_ aware you're breaking them, right?"

"…no," Dr. Nusakan said simply, perking an interested brow, "I spend all of my time in my laboratory. How would I possibly know what laws I'm breaking?" Blue and Rouge simply glanced at each other. To Blue, he could see how Dr. Nusakan was blind to the obvious sickness being spread, to but Rouge, it was the opposite. After all, the horrible smell alone should've alerted the doctor.

"I'd say looking out a damn window is proof enough!" Rouge exclaimed, "Or are you blind along with being immortal!?" Dr. Nusakan snorted as Blue simply shook his head, entering the office, finally.

"I might be old, but I'm not living under rocks," Dr. Nusakan replied, sitting on the bed he used to operate on, "If you haven't noticed, I live in _Koorong_. Garbage and decay are everywhere. Besides, my germs don't leave the office. How could they infect everything out there when they're kept in a sterile environment?" Fuse blinked; that was a good question, if what Nusakan said was true.

"Don't you dispose of the germs?" he asked, but Dr. Nusakan shook his head.

"No. I very rarely need to do so," he said, "And even if I do, I banish them to hell rather than dump them in the sewers. I'm not an idiot." Fuse blinked again. That meant that whatever was going on wasn't from Nusakan at all. He looked around the room, but nothing except the bed and a table full of tools were there. He eyed them cautiously, and sensing this, Nusakan said, "I sterilize those when I'm done."

"What about the scream we heard just a minute ago?" Rouge asked, "That seemed pretty unhealthy to me."

"That was my bird, Branley," Nusakan replied simply, looking in the dark corner toward the right, "He hates intruders, and he heard the screaming out there. You'll have to excuse him." Blue squinted his eyes, and just barely saw a large Axebeak in the corner, pecking at the ground as though it were collecting food. It eyed him with one large eye, set on the side of its axe-like beak, but didn't scream at him.

"So, if the infection out there isn't coming from _you_, where _is_ it coming from?" Fuse asked skeptically, taking out a pad to write down a statement from the doctor. Nusakan sighed, and removed his glasses to clean them. When he put them back on, he climbed off of the bed.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I'd guess the tunnels underneath Koorong, where the Freedom Rune was," Nusakan replied calmly, his frown softening, "There've been sporadic growth of many types of foreign mold down there for the past few months. I've been trying to find a way to neutralize them before they hurt too many people."

"But aren't you _studying_ germs? Why would you stop them? You can't get sick," Rouge pointed out frankly, "Why help humans?"

"I'm not heartless," Nusakan stated seriously, crossing his arms, "Besides, that's all I do. I _study_ germs. I don't _infect people_ with them. Why would I want to do that? They're the perfect vessel for other germs; without them, my study would be baseless. They don't need my help to get sick, anyway. Many factors are at play for when a human gets sick. If I mess with those, I could be granting them immunity from lesser viruses, and negating protection from actually fatal ones. Then, murder would be on my hands."

"And _that's_ a very bad offense," Fuse ended, smirking. Nusakan nodded, and paced the room before speaking again.

"Exactly. I don't want to be labeled as a murderer because of a hobby of mine," Nusakan said, "But, back to the point at hand, these molds I mention are becoming increasingly dangerous, even to the point of infecting Mystics." Blue's eyes widened. That was a terrible sign. _All_ Mystics were immune to diseases, or so he had been told when he was younger. Could Nusakan have stumbled upon something very, very dangerous?

"Infecting Mystics?" Blue repeated worriedly, "Is that possible? I thought you were immune to disease."

"So did I, but this new virus is very, very potent. Most probably, the tunnels are too damp, which is causing the spores to reproduce at an astronomical rate," Nusakan explained, looking at a chart on the wall as he spoke, "See, while it's true that Mystics are immune to disease, that only counts in the case of regularly produced genes and atoms created by known plant matter. When a foreign object or spore enters the field, and our bodies can't recognize it, we're as vulnerable to it as humans are, because we don't know what said foreign spore cells can do. And, with the rate that these cells are growing, any creature would fall victim to its viral flood. Even immortals like us." Blue bit his lip. That was a very terrifying thought, especially because it now rendered Mystics mortal to a new extent. He looked at Fuse, who, though confused highly with the explanation, did seem to understand it a little. At least, he knew enough to genuinely be very concerned.

"What do you think?" Blue asked. Fuse hummed, looking around again. His eyes fell on an empty jar.

"I want to believe the good doctor, but the evidence we do have points to him. Nusakan, didn't Joker visit you the night he was sick?" Fuse asked. Nusakan blinked, and then nodded.

"Actually, yes, he did. Poor boy was living in the sewers, from what I remember," Nusakan recalled thoughtfully, "I thought he had gotten an illness from there, but his symptoms are too much like what's happening in the city."

"Well, he got better," Rouge said bluntly, eyes narrowed, "We want to know if you gave him anything to help him?" Nusakan shook his head.

"No. I recommended he go and get some sleep," Nusakan replied calmly, "See, the symptoms are very much like a standard cold at first: Lack of energy, coughing, sneezing, and fever. You only get the advanced symptoms if it's left untreated for too long. This new virus is a very cunning one; it mimics common viruses almost to the exact, while being immune to any antibodies the normal virus usually succumbs to if left to grow too long." Fuse looked down. They had treated him as soon as he had set foot into IRPO. He guessed that Joker was still in the first stage of illness. Sighing, he pointed to the empty jar.

"I believe you about the tunnels, doc," Fuse finally said, "But we need to see if the spores found their way up here, in the sewers. We can't have people using the water supply if it has." Nusakan nodded, walking over and taking the jar from its shelf. Then, he also grabbed a water cannon, strapping it onto his belt.

"I agree, officer," he said sternly, "I don't know the full extent of the city, but nonetheless, we do need to test the water. After this, I'll perform tests on the samples we gather and see if I can produce a cure." Fuse nodded as Nusakan opened the door again, walking into the now empty reception room.

"You'll need to show us around the tunnels, first," Fuse told him, "We're not familiar with the cave, and I'm sure Blue forgot where the rune was." Blue shot an angry glare at Fuse as he said this. It was true; Blue _had_ forgotten about the layout of the caves during his very brief visit there, but Fuse didn't need to repeat that. Nusakan simply chuckled, and agreed, though he did stress that they were running out of time as they ran out of the building. He led them over past one of the sleeping Pickbirds, toward a sewer entrance where the grate was missing. Silently, they climbed down, and Nusakan produced the bottle when he was near the water's edge. He dipped the jar and scooped up just a bit of the water. He closed the jar and looked at it carefully, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Well?" Blue asked gently, after a moment of silence.

"There _are_ germs in this water, but it's not the spore we're looking for," Nusakan told him, "It's mostly bacterial from raw sewage." Rouge's eye twitched, and he felt very ill as Nusakan put the jar away and led them through the sewer, where they came out in another alley around Koorong. This time, Nusakan led them up a flight of broken stairs, and turned a sharp corner, where a track of rails sat in front of a broken-down subway tunnel. Nusakan entered, with the other three in tow. There sat a large hole. Slowly, Nusakan advanced to it.

"I wouldn't get too close, doc," Rouge warned, "It might actually kill you." Nusakan glanced at him, and then laughed, shaking his head. He obviously didn't take the warning too seriously.

"I'd give my life in the name of science," Nusakan simply said, "Besides, the spores are down here… take these if you're truly worried." He threw them all a doctor's mask, one for each. They slipped them on without complaint, and as soon as Blue looked up, Nusakan had already jumped the hole, landing on the dirt far below. Fuse walked over, and looked down. It smelled terrible, but it wasn't dangerous just yet.

"Well, soldiers, let's move before the doctor dies down there," Fuse told them, and slid into the hole. That left the twins to stare at each other, neither one feeling particularly motivated to get in there.

"Think we could get away with ditching them?" Rouge asked. Blue snorted. That was an appealing idea, but he knew they'd be caught, fired, and possibly thrown in jail for fleeing from a mission. He simply shook his head.

"I don't think we should try it," he replied, smiling with amusement, "Besides, we're protectors of the people now. What's better than knowing we might actually help save a city?" Rouge's eyes narrowed as Blue jumped down the tunnel. That didn't convince him at all.

"Being dead, or anywhere else," he mumbled, and then he too jumped down, knowing that at least one of them would climb back up if he didn't move his ass.

"Just know, bro, that if we die, I'm blaming our crackpot of a boss."

--(End Chapter)

And so, with Dr. Nusakan, world's best character, in their team, our heroes brave the sewers and tunnels to find the source of what might be the deadliest virus known to man! Is that possible, for it to outdo even Campbell's terrible virus? Will they find the spores in question, and how will they stop such a concoction? Will Rouge be hit on by another male Mystic? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	25. A new spin on Thanatology

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they can't believe I'm making a fiction with Fuse as an actual hero. I can't believe they cut him out of being a main hero. Also, I want to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to Shadow-Chan34276. Blue and Rouge love you a lot.

The sewers were never a place of fond memories. Rouge burned that into his mind when he and Blue first went to Manhattan, but now, he was slapped in the face that there was indeed something much worse than sewers. Tunnels _under_ the sewers. Not only did it have mold and spores growing in it, but the smell of the sewage somehow penetrated the stone floor above, seeping into the natural cave he was now climbing through.

"Seriously, this sucks," Rouge mumbled to Blue as they followed Dr. Nusakan down a sloping crest, "This is the worst mission we've ever been on. Even Rita was better than this. At least we could've killed her." Blue rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"And be charged with murder alongside it," he reminded Rouge very sternly, "Trust me, this is better." Rouge snorted. He certainly didn't believe that at all. Rita wouldn't have given them the risk of contracting a fatal disease that not even Mystics could defend against. Fuse, who had barely heard their little argument, turned back to them.

"Besides, once you get past the smell and spores, it's actually lovely down here," he encouraged, "Just think of the people up there, not braving this cave and not seeing its beauty, soldier. That's the perk of _this_ job; to see wonderful places without paying huge fares for it." Rouge issued a low growl. There was no way that would ever convince him, but he knew better than to say otherwise. That would simply end in an argument. So, they continued on, passing corpses of monsters that had fallen from the new virus. Rouge resisted the urge to retch, and Blue flinched, pitying the creatures. They, after all, were as innocent as the people in this.

"I'd say we came in the nick of time," Dr. Nusakan commented, moving the corpse of a gecko with his foot, "This is the kind of germ I've been waiting to see."

"Don't get too excited, doc," Fuse said sternly, eyeing the corpse of a dead shellworm, "This thing is fatal. It might kill you if you get too close. Besides, we're here to stop this disease, not to study it."

"Ah, but I need just a sample and I'll be set, my good officer," Dr. Nusakan said kindly, smiling, "Nothing dangerous. The spores on my coat will do nicely, provided you don't need them for evidence." Rouge's eye twitched at listening to the doctor, but Fuse seemed more than willing to continue the rather morbid topic.

"Nope, we don't need your coat," Fuse replied, "Our mission is to stop the spread of the disease. Though, if you find anything, we'd be glad to know what this virus is." Dr. Nusakan agreed to submit his studies to IRPO at that point, much to Fuse's relief. That would probably make their job easier later. Blue simply smiled, glad that Fuse was actually getting along with their client, but Rouge was the only one less than enthusiastic with their partnership. He nudged Blue in the ribs.

"Is it me or is Nusakan another crackpot of a Mystic?" he whispered, "His whole life is bent on getting sick. Isn't that a little weird?" Blue snorted, and lightly smacked Rouge on the head. Yes, Nusakan was an oddity, but he'd seen much, much worse.

"It's about as weird as a high-schooler trying to catch the flu to ditch school," Blue replied flatly, "Listen, Rouge, I know you hate Mystics, but try to cool it a little. They're actually helping humans out, so please don't ruin it." Rouge mumbled, but said nothing more on that subject. He didn't need to anger Blue. Sighing, they simply continued on. The cave was very quiet; everywhere they went, animals had died. Plants had withered, and even the natural glow of the cave seemed to have dimmed considerably. In a way, it reminded Rouge very painfully of Campbell's virus. And, with that, a new thought brewed in his mind. This might very well be a fabricated spore they were dealing with.

"Hey, doc, I was wondering," Rouge began, and Nusakan glanced back at him, "You think this could be man-made? The spore?" Nusakan stopped and considered that. It was possible, but something inside told him it wasn't that. Even at their stupidest, or evilest, humans weren't smart enough to create something this dangerous. Calmly, he shook his head.

"No, I doubt it was created by a person," Nusakan replied, "No human or Mystic would ever experiment with a fatality like this. If anything, I'd say it was contracted by something and brought here inadvertently. Whatever that source was, however, is probably dead. If only… we could figure out where this came from." Fuse, who'd taken the lead as Nusakan slowed down to speak, looked back and shrugged, not exactly sure why that would be a problem. Nusakan, after all, was one of the most powerful Mystics in existence.

"I'm sure you have some nice equipment that'll figure that out for you, right?" Fuse asked, but when Nusakan shook his head, he exclaimed, "What!? Then how do you identify these germs of yours!?"

"It's a delicate process, officer. And, I merely identify the molecular structure of my subjects. I cannot identify its original source unless the spore I'm studying specifically has any outside DNA on it," Nusakan replied carefully, adjusting his glasses, "And, unless these spores are immortal, the original ones have probably died off by now."

"So, then, even if we stop the outbreak here, it'll still continue unless we know where it's coming from!?" Rouge concluded, and when Nusakan nodded, he moaned, "Man, these missions get better and better. How the hell are we going to figure out where they came from in the first place!?" Blue hummed, and narrowed his eyes as he looked around. No one supplied an answer for Rouge's question, but something in Blue's mind began to turn. These spores were already causing symptoms _here_, and they weren't that old to begin with… Blue smiled, finally reaching an idea.

"If we can figure out who else has had this massive outbreak before us, we might be able to figure out where it's coming from aside from down here, right?" Blue asked, and finally, Rouge began to grin, seeing Blue's plan, "What if we post a bulletin or something?" Nusakan hummed, wondering if that would work, but Fuse shook his head, shooting down Blue's only suggestion regarding its complete identification.

"Can't do that, boy," Fuse stated sternly, frowning as he actually turned toward his three allies, "If we do, people might start getting terrified and make false reports, or doctors might give us diseases and areas resembling this virus. The doc did say this mimics lesser viruses, right?" Blue looked down, saddened that his suggestion didn't quite make it. Rouge glanced at Blue, and then glared at Fuse, who seemed eager to simply go ahead.

"But we have to do something!" Rouge cried, "Boss, what the hell's stopping us from warning everyone!?" Fuse snorted before turning ahead, grinning.

"See, it's a little thing I like to call _mass hysteria_," he explained simply, and Rouge's eyes narrowed flatly, "If we go around and tell people we found a disease that can kill you in an instant, they're going to react by making false allegations and wasting our resources trying to assure themselves they _don't_ have this disease. In less than a month, we'll probably have exhausted most of our squadrons." Rouge's lips thinned as Fuse began walking forward again. That wasn't a good enough reason not to warn anyone, but when he glanced at Blue, not even his own brother seemed willing to argue with their boss. He wasn't nearly as docile. He ran ahead past Nusakan, who was inspecting a spore that had fallen onto a wall.

"Boss, stop!" Rouge yelled, and surprisingly enough, Fuse came to a halt, looking back at Rouge critically, "Look, I know we can't waste anything, but this is serious. This is worse than what happened in Manhattan. The Campbell virus _mutated_ its target, but this _kills_ its victim. We can't let it go without warning. I think the people have a right to know, so why the hell aren't we doing anything about it!?" Fuse frowned, looking at Rouge with a seriousness that Rouge himself had never seen before. The older cop sighed, shaking his head.

"Look, boy, I know you're upset, but you don't know crowd control like I do," Fuse replied seriously, "There are already people on alert, and you know how they reacted: they barely functioned without freaking out over it. If we went ahead and told everyone, we'd be disrupting our investigation and possibly the entire police force. I want to help these people as much as you, boy, but you have to look at this realistically. The people are safer left in the dark right now. Rash acts are how calamities start in the first place." Rouge calmed down as he looked at his boss's grim expression, never having heard Fuse so serious since they began working for IRPO. Blue and Nusakan came up just behind Rouge, who looked down, ashamed to have questioned his superior.

"Boss, I'm… sorry," Rouge said, as Blue asked, "Did something similar happen before?" Fuse looked at both twins, and then nodded, sitting on the ground. He didn't want to waste too much time, but he felt if he explained his own past a bit, he might make them understand the true severity of this case.

"A long time ago, back when I was a rookie, we had an outbreak of what we thought was cholera in Owmi," Fuse started, "See, it was a relatively new virus in Owmi, since the town was so clean and rich, but as soon as I heard what they _thought_ it was, I did some research. I found out that if it was left untreated, the victims would die within hours from dehydration. I… broadcasted it without superior permission, and caused a wide-spread panic within over three major continents connected with Owmi. So much time was wasted, with all of the phone calls people made, letters, petitions… it wasn't my best work."

"You caused a riot?" Rouge asked, and laughed, "Cool!" Fuse snorted, and shook his head.

"It was anything but cool. I was nearly fired for it," Fuse continued, "It wasn't a riot, boy. It was mass hysteria. And, it affected almost every world save for the Mystics, who were immune to it. It was… one good Mystic who figured out it wasn't cholera, but a milder version called _chloramene_, which is exclusive to Shingrow. We found out the virus was spread from a single gecko that was taken in captivity and placed in Owmi as an experimental procedure. Needless to say, I was severely penalized for my rashness."

"What happened?" Blue asked. Fuse looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel, and smiled weakly.

"I was demoted to janitorial services until they saw fit for me to wear a badge again," he replied, "The Mystic… told them the symptoms were all too similar and asked that I be brought back in shorter time than they allotted me."

"Who was this Mystic?" Nusakan asked, tilting his head, "In the past 200 years, only a few of us have ever allied ourselves with the forces of law for you humans." Fuse snorted again, and sighed.

"It was Silence," Fuse replied, "It was that silent, little bastard and his use of telekinesis that saved my ass that day. I still don't know why he did it; we weren't friends. In fact, I hated him. And yet, he still felt a need to bring me back. I never understood, but he asked just one favor in return." Rouge blinked, raising an interested brow.

"What favor, boss?" he asked, "To not hate him for being a jerk?" Fuse laughed. That was the very thought that crossed his own mind on that day, but that wasn't it.

"Nope. That never even crossed his mind," Fuse replied gently, "He asked that I never cause an uproar like that again. He asked that the next time something like that ever happened, that I stay calm and never let something so dangerous slip out. I… made that promise to him, and I promised none of my men would ever cause such a ruckus again. I plan to keep that promise, boy, so just trust me on this." Rouge sighed. He didn't like that he couldn't warn anyone of the danger, but he did see where Fuse was coming from. Fuse stood up, and when a moment of silence passed, seemed to think that meant he was done, for he continued onward, with Rouge following behind. Nusakan glanced at Blue, and then followed before Blue took up the rear.

"Sir, I can understand you not making a rash decision again, but why keep that promise to _Silence_?" Blue asked, after they turned a corner, coming to the side of an interior mountain above a lake far below, "It sounds like you really hate him, so why keep that promise to him? Is it because he saved your job?" Fuse stopped for just a moment and hummed, and then seemed to ignore the question as he continued on. Rouge blinked, and looked back at Blue and Nusakan, both seeming to guess why Fuse would heed such a promise from a rival like that.

"Boss, why would you!?" Rouge asked again, eye twitching as he slowly guessed the answer himself, "Don't tell me he's like Ildon and that freak, Ciato!" Fuse snorted, and walked further.

"You'll just have to wonder now, won't you?" he asked, neither claiming nor denying the statement. Nusakan simply smiled, walking past Rouge as Blue laughed, none too surprised with Fuse's response. Rouge's eye twitched again, and his mouth dropped open. He understood _Mystics_ being homosexuals, but _humans and Mystics together_!? It reminded him too much of Ciato's reaction to him. And that very reminder made him pull his hair out.

"_What the HELL!?_" he asked, "Is the _entire_ world going _gay_ on me!?" Blue laughed again, shaking his head as Fuse snorted once more.

"Even if it is, why's that such a problem, boy?" Fuse asked him. Rouge growled, but had no answer to counter with. There technically was no problem, but he certainly didn't want to _think_ on it for too long. Eye twitching, he followed the other three as they once again moved on. It was too silent as they slid down a slope toward a lower level, no doubt a silence due to the severe lack of monsters roaming around. Rouge sighed, and winced when his sigh echoed off of the walls. It was much louder than it should have been.

"Damn it, didn't _anyone_ survive?" he finally asked, frowning, "Is it really this fatal? Roufas didn't say anyone in town died." Nusakan looked back at him critically before answering, as he adjusted his glasses.

"This place is condensed with the virus, Rouge," he replied calmly, "Up top, we have three layers of earth and stone to dilute it, so it's not nearly as toxic. But here? There's no protection. Anyone who lives down here for an extended period will probably die within hours." Rouge's eyes widened. Hours? That's all it'd take? That wasn't very long at all, and he really had no wish to die so soon.

"Does this mean we're in danger!?" he exclaimed, "We're down here, after all!" Nusakan hummed, and pointed to the masks he had handed to everyone.

"We'll be relatively safe as long as we wear these and don't breathe the spores in," he told them all reassuringly. Rouge didn't say anything more, but he did notice that Fuse slowed a bit until he was by Nusakan's side.

"What do you mean by 'relative?" the older cop asked, raising a worried brow. He didn't like the tone Nusakan used, even though it was calm. Nusakan himself simply chuckled.

"Safety is a rather relative term since we barely know enough about these spores to label what they can actually do," Nusakan explained, as he took the lead, "We're close, yes, but it's only when the spores get inside of you through some means that they do the damage. Relatively speaking, if we don't _ingest_ them through breathing, we _should_ be safe from any fatalities. But I can't guarantee it on the note of side effects. Allergens are so small, they can slip through most fabrics, so even if we don't die, we might still get a slight cold from these spores." Rouge grunted. If that was meant to calm him down, it did very little in attaining its goal. The last thing he wanted was to get sick from his job.

"_That's_ reassuring," he mumbled, as Blue nudged him hard in the ribs, "Ow! Damn it, bro, what was that for!?"

"Considering the fact that we're receiving so much help from a Mystic, I really wish you could learn to stop being so rude," Blue scolded, giving him a flat look, "If you really don't believe the doctor, why don't you just rip off your mask and see for yourself?" Rouge growled, but didn't argue further. Blue did have a point: They _were_ receiving an awful lot of help from the Mystics. Without another word, the two brothers continued on behind Fuse and Nusakan, both of whom were discussing what could be used to neutralize what symptoms in the spores. Fuse had asked if any plants in the tunnels would work, but it was ruled out; Nusakan was certain all of them were infected, which would null any healing they could do.

"My best bet would be that the answer lies in a mixture of antibodies from both natural and outside sources," Nusakan concluded, as they came to a large clearing of dirt, "We'll need every victim's DNA to determine what to use, but I could easily sort out what would be needed for each individual." Fuse nodded, and decided that might be the best course of action, even if it was a rather unstable one. However, as Nusakan looked forward, he saw a figure lying in the dirt. At first, his immediate thought went to another slain monster, but then he saw that it was a person. Immediately, he rushed forward and said, "My goodness, there's a person down here!?"

"Who the hell is stupid enough to come down here at a time like this!?" Rouge asked, brows furrowed as he, Blue, and Fuse ran over. Whoever this was, was no monster. His orange hair was spread out all around him as he laid on his back, and his suit, an interesting combination of orange, white, and black, was ripped a bit, a large slash across his chest. But, what really worried the twins were his wings; torn and bloodied butterfly wings. When Fuse saw the man, his eyes widened.

"Silence!?" he exclaimed, "My god, what the hell is he doing _here_!? Silence, wake up!" He shook Silence gently, who slowly opened an eye. He sat up, and then stared at Fuse, blinking. Fuse asked, "Silence, why are you here!? This wasn't your job." Silence blinked again, and closed his eyes. Rouge and Blue immediately heard a voice, but Silence didn't move his lips.

'_I was asked to help out. Mystics are immune to all disease, Fuse_,' the voice said calmly, almost gently. Fuse sighed heavily, and shook his head.

"Not this one, buddy," he said grimly, "Nusakan here is pretty sure it's fatal enough to kill Mystics and humans alike."

'_I know_,' the voice continued, '_I passed out after too long. I… failed the mission. Don't go any further, I doubt you'd survive._' Fuse's eyes narrowed as Silence did indeed appear to be speaking to him.

"You didn't fail, you stupid jerk," Fuse growled, closing his eyes, "And we're not leaving. We have a job to do, and even though we could die, we have to do something." Rouge nodded in agreement, and this time, Silence actually snorted. Everyone looked at him, but the only sound he made was a snort. He smiled.

'_I haven't seen you this determined in years_,' he replied thoughtfully, '_You are right, though. Just don't cause such a ruckus again. I've no need to save you again._' Blue laughed, and Fuse wrinkled his nose distastefully. Then, he simply became indignant.

"Hey! I didn't _ask_ you to save my sorry ass!" Fuse yelled defensively, and Silence looked as though he might have been laughing, "_STOP LAUGHING AT ME!_" Silence stopped, but his smile remained as he shook his head.

'_You will never change, my dear friend_,' Silence said, '_Even after all these years, you haven't changed one bit since our first mission._'

"Oh, please! I turned out just fine. I'm the leader of my own squadron!" Fuse reminded him, "Technically, you work for me now!" Blue raised a confused brow. He had never met Silence before, and if he worked for Fuse as well, why was that? Silence himself snorted again and took out a pendant in the shape of a blue heart. Rouge's eye twitched as he saw it.

'_True enough. I have something I forgot to give you, and just… never felt you deserved until I realized you were coming here_,' he replied, and when Rouge opened his mouth, he continued, '_Being a mute has given me moderate psychic abilities. I sensed Fuse would be coming here, and wanted to give him something that would protect him from the monster in there._'

"There's a monster?" Blue asked, and Silence nodded, looking down.

'_Yes. A giant spider. My… My Blue Heart couldn't protect me_,' Silence replied, '_When I saw Fuse coming, I thought… he finally deserved it for even attempting to stop this terrible plague. He did more than I could. I didn't bother to ask the locals for information. I simply went ahead…_'

"But why!?" Fuse asked, "That's not like you, Silence. I'm usually the one to rush in like a SWAT team. Why act so rashly?" Silence didn't look up at him. His gaze remained on the floor.

'_I didn't want you to go hurt, Fuse. You would've charged in without knowing what you were dealing with,_' Silence replied, '_I… just take this._' He shoved the locket into Fuse's hands. Fuse simply looked at the locket. He frowned. It was the locket that started their rivalry so long ago. Silence had worn it without even thinking, and when that fateful Maelstrom hit, he was saved… while Fuse was nearly killed. He was sure Silence had junked the amulet… but he hadn't. He kept it, either as a reminder to what he did or to Fuse's dislike.

"Silence, why?" he asked, "This was yours. It protected you."

'_I stopped needing it the day you said you hated me for it,_' Silence told him, a slight blush forming, '_I didn't want it anymore. I haven't used it since… but now, it can help you. It'll protect you from her liquid acid._' Fuse sighed, and nodded, slipping the locket around his neck. Then, he turned to where Silence had come from. A dark, lone chasm between the rocks sat, and Fuse was unable to see inside despite its wide depth. Blue felt amazing power coming from there, and yet… something seemed entirely too familiar about it. He looked to Fuse, who nodded, seeming to sense what Blue was thinking.

"Yup, we're going in, soldier," he replied, and turned to Nusakan, "Listen, doc, could you take care of Silence? I don't think either of you should be going in there." Nusakan agreed fully to that, and after seeing that Silence would be all right, Fuse led Blue and Rouge into the chasm. The smell was unbearable, and slipped right through the masks they wore. Blue felt his eyes water, the sting of such an infection getting through his senses, and Rouge was ready to throw up. Still, they continued on through a short tunnel that eventually opened up into a very large chamber. If it was possible, the smell was even worse.

"Damn it, what died down here!?" Rouge demanded, plugging his nose under his mask. Blue squinted his eyes, trying to see anything in the darkness, but the only things catching his eyes were the swirls of green and yellow as the spores floated in the air. It made him sick to look at, but he had a job to do. Carefully, he took out a flashlight, flashing it toward the middle of the chamber. There, a large spider indeed sat, but most of her legs were crumbled, some even being burned off entirely. Threads of sticky goo came from the ends of said legs, and her spider-like body heaved with the effort needed to breathe. Blue jumped back as he realized who it was.

"A-Anita!?" he screamed, "How can this be!?" Rouge looked back at him, eyes widened as he heard the name.

"What? Did you say Anita? As in, Anita Campbell!?" Rouge asked him, "Bro, we killed her!" Fuse's lips simply thinned as he looked on the creature that was indeed, the remains of Anita Campbell. She blinked as she tried to see who was disturbing her this time, but could barely move. Blue simply nodded as he glanced at Rouge.

"I know, but something must've happened to discount our last blow," Blue guessed bitterly, crossing his arms, "What did you do to escape Hell?" Anita groaned miserably as she leaned forward, her red hair in a matted mess as she looked at them all. Blue frowned. He didn't sense any form of malice in her; just agony.

"Made a deal… with Hell's Lord," she said slowly, her eyes unfocused, "Said he… would bring me back… didn't say… he'd bring me right back… to just before I died…"

"Damn, you got scammed by Hell's Lord?" Rouge asked, biting his lip, "I almost feel bad for you." Anita snorted, and then sighed as she shook her head.

"I've been hiding in here trying to recover, but some fool of a Mystic tried to kill me while I was sleeping," Anita explained, "I accidentally hit him with acid. It was a reflex." Blue blinked. It seemed like whatever was actually going on wasn't intentional. Carefully, he stepped forward, even though Rouge urged him not to.

"Do you know you're spreading around a really dangerous infection?" he asked her calmly, "It could even kill Mystics." Anita blinked, and then coughed, rumbling the entire chamber, as rocks from the ceiling began to fall.

"I am?" she asked, sounding genuinely surprised, "I didn't think I was. But… that'd explain why… so many things are dying. Are you going to try and arrest me?" Blue glanced at Fuse, who nodded, walking over to join his underling as he took out a pair of cuffs, despite them being too small for Anita.

"We don't have a choice, miss," Fuse told her, "You've endangered everyone in Koorong. That right there is a capital offense. You're looking on at least 500 years of imprisonment." Blue glared at Fuse. Five hundred years!? No one could outlive that… except for maybe a Mystic. Anita, however, just laughed. But it wasn't a cold-hearted laugh; she was amused with something.

"Officer, as much as I deserve jail time for what I've done lately, you might actually be better off killing me," she replied calmly, "I doubt I'd last for the trial date, and this way, the infection might actually stop. Then again, murder isn't exactly part of your job now, is it?" She gave an almost mocking smile as she asked that, and Fuse looked down mumbling, "…no, it isn't…" as Blue looked at her, wondering what she was actually up to. This didn't seem like the same corrupt woman he faced back in Manhattan.

"Wait, are you saying you _want_ us to kill you!?" Rouge asked, throwing his arms up, "Okay, I don't get it! First, you go insane and try to poison the world because you lost your dad, _then_ you nearly kill the entire world, and _now_ that it's _actually happening_, you want us to kill you? What the hell!?" Blue snorted. That was a rather vague, but somehow accurate, description of what Anita seemed to be doing. Obviously, Anita found it just as humorous, for she chuckled as well.

"Killing me freed me from the insanity I threw myself into years ago," she told them, "Technically, I _am_ dead. I just did a stupid thing by playing bets with Hell's Lord. Now I'm paying for it. But that doesn't mean everyone else should, either, right? Isn't that what started this?" Blue nodded, and glanced at Rouge. She was weakened; they wouldn't need Aubergine to finish her off. Any form of spell would do it. Rouge seemed to have been thinking this as well, for he nodded. Blue glanced at Fuse, but the older cop seemed absolutely confused with what was happening. So, Blue stepped forward.

"You've got a point. We'll end this here and now, Anita," he told her, "I'm… sorry that you got yourself mixed up with Hell's Lord."

"Yeah, if we knew you'd do something that stupid, we'd have sent you somewhere even worse than Hell," Rouge added, and Blue nudged him in the ribs, "Ow! Anyway, see you never, Anita!" Blue closed his eyes, summoning every ounce of strength he had. If he was going to pull this off, he needed as much magic as possible. Slowly, very slowly, he felt a portal opening up behind Anita, sucking out all of the air in the chamber. Then, he heard it as the wind roared past them, into the portal itself. He opened an eye, and saw Anita slowly being pulled into it.

"Thank you," she said, her voice echoing in the wind. Blue nodded, and watched as she was finally sucked in, the portal sealing itself up immediately after. The air immediately became fresh, the spores dying off without their original host to feed off of. It smelled cleaner, but even with their victory, no one moved. They simply watched as the green mist disappeared.

"…so, that's it?" Rouge finally asked, after a moment of silence, "We throw her in a portal and she's gone?"

"Seems to be it," Fuse replied, and turned toward the chasm, "Come on, boys. We have to go and make sure Silence and Nusakan are all right." Without argument, he led them out of the chamber, and back toward where they left Nusakan and Silence, both of whom were watching in amazement as the spores continued to die until nothing but fresh air was left throughout all of the tunnels.

"Seems like whatever was causing this phenomenon was killed off," Nusakan observed, "I'm fascinated! Officer, tell me what happened!" Fuse, who clapped Silence on the back, nodded and led them all forward, toward the entrance back into Koorong.

"Well, doc, it all happened like this…" Fuse started, and then explained what they had witnessed in the chamber. As the two Mystics spoke… or in Silence's case, thought, Blue and Rouge hung farther back, Rouge still looking over his shoulder at the slowly shrinking frame of the chasm behind them. He didn't see what had happened to Anita; he shut his eyes as soon as the wind whipped up. But he did know Blue nearly exhausted everything in order to cast the spell he did. Biting his lip, his glanced at Blue.

"So, what did you use to end her life?" he asked, as Fuse prattled on about some huge battle that didn't actually happen. Blue looked up at the ceiling.

"Vortex. High-leveled Space magic," Blue replied gently, smiling, "She's fine, Rouge. Hell's Lord can't try to scam her again." Rouge nodded, and they continued on. After a moment, Rouge patted Blue on the shoulder, smiling proudly.

"You did the right thing, bro," he said calmly, "Killing her was more merciful than making her go through a trial. In a way, you were better at serving justice than I would've been." Blue smiled weakly as he was led along by his twin. That was true, but Rouge was always kinder. He simply didn't want to see an innocent die.

"What I don't understand is why the infection warped her that badly, and why it didn't affect her when she came back," Blue said, as they walked up a steep slope, the sudden sound of trickling water becoming refreshing to their ears, "Rouge, do you think… she was undead?"

"It'd explain why the virus was so bad," Rouge agreed, nodding his head, "Good news is, Space magic is really powerful. I don't think she's coming back. Even if she did, she's a good guy again, so there's no problem. Still, I just hope all of the spores are dying, and everyone will be all right." Nusakan, who was finished listening to Fuse's story, looked back and grinned, adjusting his glasses.

"They'll be fine once I analyze the samples I was able to get," Nusakan assured him, "I'd like you all to follow me to my lab, to see the results." As they reached the entrance into the tunnels, Fuse nodded, agreeing to do that. After all, they hadn't received any calls from IRPO to _not_ follow Nusakan, so any information they could get would be just as well. Fuse stepped aside to let Nusakan lead.

"All right, doc. Lead us to your lab."

--(End Chapter)

And so, with Anita being the cause, and mercifully dispersed to space itself, it looks like our team of ragtag cops once again saved the day! But, how dangerous was the spore in question, and can Nusakan find the cure before it kills? Will Anita come back, and will she ever reveal her true name, which is actually _not_ Anita? What's going on between Silence and Fuse? And, can you all forgive me for messing up Campbell's actual name? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	26. Viva Las Baccarat

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and never before have they seen a fanfiction so awesome!

"Just a bit longer and we should have the results soon," Nusakan said, as he and Silence worked on an instrument in his lab. The trip from the sewers was amazingly short, and within mere minutes, or so it seemed to be that short, they were right back in the good doctor's lab. Blue had asked if he should straighten out the reception area, and though Nusakan didn't like the idea, he did realize it might be better for his studies if he were a bit organized. He agreed, and as Blue set to cleaning, he set to studying.

'_I have never seen DNA react this way before_,' Silence said calmly, watching as the cells of the spores split and then reform, '_Doctor, are they trying to spread?_'

"I believe they might be, but it appears certain conditions need to be met before they can," Nusakan replied, looking into the microscope, "But what are we missing that permits the germs to divide like that?" Rouge looked down, trying to think of what could be wrong. He doubted it had anything to do with light; Nusakan's office was just as dim as the tunnels were. Then, he snorted.

"Maybe it needs to smell like garbage," he joked, thinking that might be the only difference between the office and the sewers. But, Blue's suggestion shattered his joke. Blue looked up from the broom, and frowned.

"I don't think it's damp enough," he stated, "It was humid in the tunnels, but up here, it's very dry, and very cold. Maybe it's a temperature issue?"

"Blue, I'm pretty sure the germs would die if we didn't keep them warm enough," Rouge said flatly, "Let the grown-ups talk." Blue glared at Rouge, and if he were any less mature, he'd have hit his twin with the broom. Instead, he sighed.

"_You_ are telling _me_ that I'm being _immature?_ You, of everyone I know?" Blue asked, and laughed, "You're hysterical, Rouge. Now sit down. We're trying to have a serious discussion here, and your random bouts of ranting never help." Rouge stuck his tongue out at Blue, but plopped into the chair nonetheless as Nusakan looked at Blue and smiled.

"Actually, Blue, you are correct in your statement," he said calmly, "It is rather dry, and I did not foresee that. You see, I must keep my lab dry to prevent the germs from either spreading or being diluted. But, this poses a dire problem in our new case…" He looked back down at the sample he had. He was close to identifying its structure, but it was too dry, and he was too worried for his other work to open a window and let the rain in. Fuse seemed to sense this.

"So, how do we solve it, doc?" he asked, crossing his arms, "Bring it outside?" Nusakan shook his head as he took off his glasses. That was the worst scenario possible.

"No. What we must do is secure this room, and bring my other studies to the reception area, and seal the door. Then, I will open the window and we can see just what these germs do," Nusakan replied, "Blue, is the room cleaned?" Blue popped his head into the office.

"Relatively speaking, it's _cleaner_ than it was before," Blue replied, "But I haven't wiped down the counters and the shelves still have some dust on the top." Nusakan snorted, and picked two large jars off the shelves, heading into the reception area. He was slightly taken aback by the lack of dust, but he simply waved it off.

"We'll deal with that later. The jars are sealed, so they'll be safe at the very least," Nusakan said, setting the jars on the long counter just beside the door, "We just need space to bring everything out. Silence, Fuse, would you help me with this?" He didn't even need to ask, because Silence and Fuse were both already working on bringing out the rest of the jars as Blue and Rouge set to putting them away in an organized fashion. Within twenty minutes, everything was in order, and the office was nearly bare, save for the few instruments Nusakan insisted they needed, the table with the germs, and the five of them standing around, in lab coats and masks.

"…why are we wearing all this shit, anyway?" Rouge asked, yanking on his latex gloves, "I feel and look like a complete moron." Blue grunted and kicked Rouge in the shin as Fuse simply shook his head.

"Who cares? We're doing this so we don't get sick," Blue replied shortly, eyeing his twin flatly, "Now stop being rude and let the doctor work." Rouge mumbled, but obeyed Blue nonetheless. Nusakan nodded and turned to Silence.

"Shut the door," he ordered, and when Silence obeyed, he walked over and opened the window. The air rushed in, and immediately, the humidity began to rise. The germs slowly went up into the air, as Nusakan had taken them out of their sample jar, and they hovered in the humidity. Nusakan was amazed! Turning to Fuse, he said, "Turn off the lights!" Fuse did so, and the germs began to _glow_. They were glowing a bright yellow, and Rouge stared in utter awe. It was like watching a tiny constellation of stars.

'_What causes it to hover?_' Silence asked, raising an interested brow. Nusakan narrowed his eyes. He couldn't use his microscope, since the germs wouldn't stay still, but he did have a theory on it.

"My guess would be some form of atomic reaction to whatever is inside of the germ itself," he replied, "The water seems to expand something that makes the germs float. I'd say it was helium, but physically and scientifically speaking, that would make little sense. Something _must_ have changed its structure drastically to warrant such a phenomenon."

"Would radiation do it?" Blue asked, and when Nusakan gave him a confused look, he said, "Anita's old virus was steeped in radiation and particle waves created by radiating light. Would that mutate the germs the same way it mutates a living creature?" Nusakan frowned, and looked at the floating germs again. That was a possibility, but he had never heard of such a case. Nor had he read anything on it.

"I… suppose it might. Radiation acts as a mutation stimulus for most living organisms, that much I admit to," the doctor replied grimly, "But to have that reaction… I do not know how your periodic tables work, but I've never seen hydrogen actually lift something into the air without the object being surrounded by water first. By floating." Blue sighed. In a way, Nusakan was right. So, then, what was the chemical reaction? He racked his brain trying to find an answer, but none would come to him. And, judging by the flushed look on Rouge's face, he had a feeling his twin wasn't doing much better. Even Silence seemed unable to produce an answer, but just as Fuse was about to speak, his cell phone rang. Sighing, he picked it up.

"Yeah? What? But we don't have the results yet. Yes, I know that's what email is for, Doll. But… fine, fine! We'll be there. No, we don't have money. Yes, I can hijack a plane. Yeah, see you later," Then, Fuse hung up the phone and looked at Blue and Rouge, "Okay, new plan. We need to get back to headquarters before our bosses blow their vessels, so let's go hijack a plane and use our authority to get away with it." However, if he thought being the boss would make either twin move, it didn't. They both gave him flat stares.

"…you actually think you're going to hijack a plane and get away with it?" Blue asked, as Rouge added, "In what screwed up, gay universe does that even _work_!?" Fuse looked at them both, unable to believe both of them would question him. After all, _he_ was the leader! _He_ was their boss! _They_ worked for_ him_!

"Hey, it's not my fault we don't have any money on us!" Fuse yelled, silencing them both, "We need to get back, and if I have to break laws to do it, I'm breaking laws to help people obey them! Now shut up and get your uniforms back on!" Blue glanced at Rouge flatly, but rather than waste time arguing, they simply obeyed as they took their lab coats off, revealing their uniforms. Fuse was about to open the door, but Silence stopped him as he said, "Buddy, don't obstruct justice on me."

'_My friend, breaking the law is not an example you would like to portray_,' Silence said calmly, though his lips didn't move, '_There are other ways to get back to IRPO_.'

"Well, if you have one, use it," Fuse said, "Rouge's little map is out of juice, and we need to get back, so do something." Silence smiled, and closed his eyes as he chanted something in silence. Blue felt a rush of wind, and then saw blue mist wrapping around him. Rouge screamed, grabbing Blue's arm as they were whisked straight out of Nusakan's office, landing in a heap in their own office back in IRPO. And, within another three minutes, Fuse fell flat on his face next to them.

"What the hell happened?" Rouge asked, looking frantically around the office, "How'd we get here!?"

"Relax, soldier. Silence just used his own magic to bring us here," Fuse replied grimly, "Damn idiot seems to think dropping me on my head is funny, though. I'll make sure I rip off his little wings later." Blue snorted as he helped Rouge up, and Fuse simply laid there, looking at the ceiling. Rouge walked over to his computer, and looked at the email they had received while they were gone. One was from Joker, thanking them for their help, and the other was from the bosses upstairs, detailing their new mission. As Blue looked over, he noticed the grim expression on Rouge's face.

"Rouge, are you okay?" Blue asked, frowning, "What does it say?"

"We need to head to Baccarat. Apparently, someone's docking the workers' salary and there's a strike going on," Rouge replied, raising an eyebrow, "There've been fights, too. I guess that's why they called us in." Blue nodded, but Fuse hummed, and the two brothers looked down at him. He seemed to be having other ideas in his head about the situation, and as he slowly sat up, he explained them all.

"Baccarat is owned largely by a group of gnomes living in the underground tunnels," Fuse replied, "If anything, what's going on falls to them, and if it doesn't, then there's something really suspicious going on in the ranks over there. We're not usually called in to solve physical bouts. We're sent in to investigate something. If this were really about a docked paycheck, all you'd need to do is speak to the board of organizations on it. No, I'd bet my badge that this is about something underneath the money." Rouge narrowed his eyes, and for once, actually did agree that Fuse might have a point. Brawls simply weren't important enough to warrant a squad like theirs. And, judging from Blue's expression, he also seemed to agree.

"So, we're to investigate the matter?" Blue asked, looking from Fuse to Rouge, who read the rest of the email. Rouge shook his head.

"According to the bosses upstairs, we're to speak directly to the gnomes on this, and if they refuse to help, then we can investigate why," he replied, and frowned, "But they ask that no weapons be used unless absolutely necessary. Why're they asking us to be so gentle? If this is a crooked organization we're dealing with, shouldn't we break them up?" He looked at Blue, but both twins seemed unable to think of the reason for their orders. Fuse, however, had much more experience, and again, surprised them with what he knew.

"Baccarat is one of the main centers for commerce on our continents. If we go in there and bust the place apart, the amount of friction we cause will probably attract attention from Trinity," Fuse told them seriously, managing to stand up, "Commerce is a delicate thing here, boys, and we can't go messing with it unless we want to get hurt. If we go in carelessly and turn Baccarat inside-out too quickly, that'd be like blowing up a cave. Everything would come crashing down and the mess would be too catastrophic to be able to fix."

"So this is about keeping Trinity out of our hair?" Blue asked, and when Fuse nodded, he said, "It's sad that your world is run by such a corrupt legislation like that. Maybe that's why so many magicians refuse to come here." Rouge snorted, and grinned smugly as he made a mock salute.

"Almost makes me proud to be _from_ the Magic Kingdom," he said sarcastically, "Except, you know, I'm absolutely _pissed_ with everyone there." Blue rolled his eyes as he logged off of Rouge's computer. Rouge made it apparent again and again that the Magic Kingdom was deemed the worst place to live in his mind, and Blue had no patience to listen to his brother's rants again. Especially with their newest mission looming on them.

"Yes, Rouge, we all know you hate our homeland," he stated bluntly, opening his desk to retrieve a blaster for the trip, "Now stop ranting and pack some supplies. I'm not going to hold your hand forever." Rouge stuck his tongue out at Blue as Fuse nodded approvingly and left to get his own supplies, but the brown-haired magician packed his supplies nonetheless. When the two were adequately prepared for their journey, they went down to the quad… only to find Fuse, four suitcases, and a large mug of coffee in his hand. Both brothers blinked, unable to understand why Fuse needed so much stuff, or what he actually did bring with him.

"…boss, you're not planning to _move_ to Baccarat, are you?" Rouge asked, as Blue raised an amused brow at the sheer amount of luggage. Fuse sipped his large coffee and grinned.

"Nope, but I need a vacation soon, so I decided that if we're going to a casino, I'm crashing on the couch for a day and doing whatever the hell I want," he stated, "Oh, I put in time for you two, too. Seems you both are getting a name here, because everyone agreed you needed a rest." Blue snorted, and Rouge practically danced for joy at the thought of a vacation. Until, of course, he remembered they had nothing with them. When he relayed this to Fuse, the older cop simply said, "Well, go home and pack, then." Rouge glanced at Blue, who nodded.

"If you have the power for it, by all means, warp us home, Rouge," Blue said approvingly, crossing his arms. Rouge nodded, and took out his map. He had just enough power to warp them there and back, and as he pressed on a button marked for Devin, he and Blue were quickly thrust into space for but a moment, only to warp into their apartment a second later. It was as they left it, with nothing out of place. Rouge practically threw himself onto their couch, hugging a pillow happily.

"Oh, happiness! I thought we'd _never_ see this place again!" Rouge said, throwing the pillow into the air, "Ah, man, I _missed_ living here!" Blue simply laughed as he walked into his room to pack a small suitcase for the trip to Baccarat. He didn't need much at all; a hairbrush, a small mirror, some hair ties, two changes of clothing, a few books, and the DS that Red bought him last year was all he needed. He came out within five minutes, and saw that Rouge was still trying to pack. Slightly irritated with that, Blue waited on the couch. Only when Rouge screamed in outrage, did Blue move.

"Damn it, close up already!" Rouge explained, sitting on his suitcase as Blue rushed in, wondering if Rouge might have been hurt, "You can fit all my shit in you, you know!" Blue's eyes narrowed flatly as the case burst open, throwing Rouge off. He saw that, clearly, Rouge was following Fuse's lead and packing way too much for the amount of time they were leaving. Robes of all kinds now littered Rouge's floor, as well as video games, crossword puzzles, a cell phone, a teddy bear, a Magic Eight ball, a camera, notebooks, an abacus, and various jigsaw puzzles. But, nowhere did Blue see any form of hygienic care packed alongside Rouge's junk. He sighed.

"Rouge, we're not _moving_," Blue pointed out, picking up the robes and folding them neatly, "We're going for a few days, but not for a month. Can't you pack a little lighter?" Rouge looked up at him, and frowned as Blue set the robes down, placing just two in Rouge's suitcase.

"But, bro, I _need_ all of that!" Rouge exclaimed, "What if I get bored?" Blue gave him another flat look.

"Then look out a window and count clouds," he replied bluntly, "Look, you don't need twenty books full of crosswords. You certainly won't need an abacus, or a jigsaw puzzle. Get rid of the useless stuff and pack the necessities." Rouge opened his mouth to protest, so Blue added, "Pack what will fit, or I'll pack for you." Rouge grumbled, but obeyed. He brought only two robes, his own DS, his phone, camera, and two notebooks. With a plead, he managed to get Blue to put his teddy bear inside his suitcase, and soon, they were all set to go. Rouge warped them back to the quad, where Fuse actually managed to fall asleep while waiting for them. Rouge simply snorted.

"Think we could leave without him?" he asked, kicking Fuse's leg. Blue chuckled. That might've been possible, but he didn't think it was a smart idea. Neither of them knew how to fly a plane. That, and Fuse stirred just slightly, opening an eye.

"Leave me here and I'll show you what a blaster tastes like, even if I shove it up your ass to do it," he growled, and Rouge shivered, knowing it was a dumb idea to disagree. Fuse stood up, and picking up all of his luggage, practically threw it onto the plane as Rouge and Blue boarded with their suitcases, setting them both near the door. From that point on, the trip was fairly peaceful, save for the fact that yet again, Fuse was driving at least three times the speed limit to get to wherever he wanted to go. Blue looked out the window, and was very glad that they were in the air as opposed to on the road. They'd have most likely crashed if they were driving. Either Fuse really wanted to solve this case, or he really wanted to get to Baccarat to play the slots.

"So, have you ever been to Baccarat before?" Rouge asked Fuse, as the land gave way to ocean in a matter of second. Fuse nodded, and grinned.

"Yup. That's actually where I met Silence," the older cop replied, "He was getting his ass kicked on Roulette, so I decided to see if I could help him out. I ended up winning him over 20,000 credits." Rouge's eyes widened. Twenty _thousand_ credits!? That was more money than he had ever owned in his _life_. Baccarat started to sound even better to him now.

"Dude, we could _totally_ try and pay off our debt there!" Rouge exclaimed, tugging on Blue's arm, "Think about it, bro!"

"I did, and it's not happening," Blue replied simply, taking out a book to read, "Places like Baccarat rely mostly on luck in order to win anything big, Rouge. We're already in enough trouble; I'm not letting you spend our money trying to win something when we need it for other things." Rouge grunted, and slunk into a pout. Blue _never_ let him do anything fun. Fuse just snorted, and shook his head.

"Besides, it's not like we'd take your money, anyway," Fuse added smugly, "We prefer you work off your debt so you learn some form of responsibility."

"But I'm responsible!" Rouge whined, throwing his hands up, and when Blue laughed, he glared at his twin and yelled, "_WHAT!?_"

"Rouge, I hate to point this out, but if it wasn't for me, you'd be setting the Magic Kingdom on fire," Blue stated, amused with his brother's outburst. Rouge's eye twitched, and finally, he blew his top.

"_THOSE SONS OF BITCHES DESERVED EVERY BLOODY LIMB THEY LOST!_" he screamed, "Why, if they weren't mostly _dead_, I'd go there and beat them all myself!" Blue simply narrowed his eyes and let Rouge continue to rant on about their homeland. Thankfully, the trip was short, and within two hours, they were already getting off of their plane and walking to the elevator that'd take them inside of the grand casino. Rouge looked around, but saw no signs of any gnomes.

"So, where are these gnomes, boss?" he asked, as Blue pressed the button to call the cart. Fuse took out a cigarette and lit it before answering.

"Either on the top floors of the place, or underground," Fuse said, and raised an eyebrow, "Rouge, I thought you collected the cards for Arcane magic already." Rouge bit his lip, and blushed. He technically did, but he ran out screaming out of every single dungeon immediately afterwards, and therefore, never actually saw anything of remote interest. He laughed.

"Okay, so I forgot that detail," he said, "Point is, I just don't see them."

"Nor should you go looking, Rouge," Blue warned, as the cart finally came, admitting them inside as it went upwards, "We shouldn't cause trouble here, and if you run around in a crazed panic, we're going to be busted." Rouge glared at Blue again, but didn't say anything as the elevator finally stopped at the reception desk for the hotel. Fuse stepped out, and with the two twins behind him, walked over to the counter to request a room. As soon as the woman there gave them a key, Rouge practically ran into their room, with Blue following in muted disapproval. Fuse just snorted as he walked inside.

"Man, this is _snazzy_!" Rouge exclaimed, jumping on one of the three beds, "Not even the inn near Shrike is this awesome!"

"Nor is it as expensive, either," Fuse grumbled, putting his wallet back in his pocket, "Over one hundred credits a night to stay in this joint! This job better be worth it."

"Hey, we can just take whatever we want after we bust those gnomes apart, right?" Rouge asked, "Problem solved, boss!" Blue gave him another flat look, and this time whacked Rouge over the head with his book, causing the magician to fall flat off the bed and on his face. Fuse snorted again, and opened the window to let some air inside.

"That's extortion and theft, soldier," he reminded Rouge calmly, "Even with my authority, we can't get away with that." Blue looked at Fuse in disbelief. He was actually _considering_ Rouge's idea! Blue didn't know whether to be surprised or furious with it; after all, Rouge and Fuse were slowly becoming more and more alike. He simply returned to his book.

"Am I the only one sane here?" he asked flatly, "Really? Is it me?"

"Sanity's for people who hate free thinking," Rouge said confidently, opening the door again, "I'm going for a walk. I want to scope the place out for potential baddies." Blue looked up as Fuse waved the request off.

"Rouge, don't arrest anyone, and _do not look for the gnomes_," Blue said sternly, but Rouge simply flipped Blue off before going out, shutting the door behind him. Blue blinked, and then looked at Fuse as he asked, "Think we can trust him?" But, Fuse didn't respond. He simply snored, and Blue sighed as he realized Fuse had fallen asleep, albeit a bit too quickly to be convincing. He simply returned to reading.

Meanwhile, Rouge was walking toward the elevator, thinking about a decent way to go about their mission without pissing Blue off. He _wanted_ to go looking for gnomes, but Blue specifically told him not to, and even though he almost never listened to Blue, he knew not doing so could result in an Energy Chain. Or death. He sighed. This trip was supposed to be fun, and Blue was successfully ruining it.

"Doesn't he trust me?" Rouge asked himself, as the elevator went up to take him to the casino, "I mean, I'm responsible enough to care for myself! I'm almost twenty years old! So why does he still treat me like a baby?" Rouge looked down, unable to find an answer. Maybe Blue was just being a big brother. Technically, he was a few minutes older. As the doors opened, Rouge let the thought slide as he walked into the casino. People everywhere were betting money on the slots, Roulette, cards, and many other games Rouge wasn't familiar with. He blinked, looking at them all.

"…wow, and Blue says I'm addicted to games," Rouge commented, as one guy practically screamed a plead to play again, even though he was currently in more debt than he could ever pay off, "There's one thing I'll give the Magic Kingdom. They taught us some discipline." He walked past the tables where people were playing poker, and right past all of the slot machines, heading up the stairs. This time, he was in the bar, and it was much quieter than down below. Rouge simply smiled. The atmosphere was perfect for him as he sat in a stool, with the bartender glancing at him.

"What's your poison, mate?" he asked, as Rouge looked around the room, "We got some nice Ritas here, if you like the strong stuff."

"Actually, sir, I kind of want information," Rouge replied, "Have you seen anything suspicious lately?"

"You mean besides yourself?" the bartender asked, polishing a glass, "Not really. I've been serving drinks most of the day, mate. Nothing suspicious during the day." Rouge looked over at him curiously, not liking that impression. Did that mean something happened at night? When Rouge asked, the bartender nodded, "Yeah, I hear talking upstairs. Not sure what it's about, but more and more of our waitresses are quitting every day, and we don't know why." Rouge hummed, and turned back to the room. That indeed was very suspicious. He grinned a bit, remembering what Fuse had said beforehand about docked payments. This bartender seemed to know what was going on, so perhaps he knew something about that as well?

"Are the wages being docked?" he asked, and the bartender gave him an odd stare, "We… we heard that there was a strike here." The bartender blinked, and then shrugged, putting the glass away.

"First time I ever heard of it," the bartender stated, as a Mystic woman came and ordered a drink for her human companion, "If anything, it's probably got something to do with the new support we bought. The gnomes up top needed some financial aid. Seems they spent too much on their ale and they need to pay the bills to run this dump, so they bid off the deed." Rouge's grin widened. This was the lead he needed, and now, he was ready to run back and laugh at Blue for telling him to not search around. He had to keep himself from laughing.

"Who owns the deed now?" he asked, hoping he wasn't sounding too interested, lest someone figure out what he was up to. The bartender seemed none the wiser as he filled the woman's order.

"Not sure. Some high-rise Mystic," he replied, "Anyway, it's nearly happy hour, so unless you plan to order, mate, I have to go." Rouge nodded. That was all the information he was going to get, anyway. He bid the bartender farewell and slid off the stool, stalking off toward the stairway leading to the top floors. The gnomes were up there, but he saw the sign saying 'For Employees Only,' which he certainly was not. He sighed. He _had_ to get up there and see what was going on. He _had_ to know what Mystic owned the deed and if that was what the strike really was about.

"Damn, now would be a stellar time for Blue to show up and either drag me downstairs or pull off something totally awesome," he grumbled, and then heard someone storming down the stairs. Glancing around, he quickly dove behind a potted plant. He couldn't be seen here, or he might be thrown out, something he had to avoid. He waited silently as three waitresses stormed past.

"I _can't_ believe those sons of bitches expect us to whore ourselves off to some Mystic!" screamed one blond waitress, ripping her bunny ears off, "I'd rather be back in prison than sleep with one of _them!_" Rouge silently agreed, and was glad to know at least _one_ Mystic wasn't into men. But, the next waitress to speak, he recognized.

"Annie, I know you're angry, but there's nothing we can do," it was Emelia, "The gnomes are being greedy, and the only way to keep the casino is to win the Mystic's favor." Rouge blinked, biting his lip as Annie turned back to Emelia angrily.

"Tell someone who gives a shit! I'm quitting and that's final! There is _no_ way I'm sleeping with a Mystic!" she screamed, and then seemed to reconsider as she said, "Unless he's hot like that green-haired one that visits Asellus sometimes." Rouge snorted. There was no way Ildon would ever go out with a human, unless Rastaban himself turned into one. The three waitresses were about to leave, and that's when Rouge made his presence known. He needed help, and with Annie quitting, he had an idea as to get inside the boss's lounge, though he hated it all the while.

"Hey, Emelia!" he called, jumping out of the potted plant. Emelia turned around, and smiled as Annie raised a confused brow, their third friend tapping her foot.

"Rouge! How are you?" Emelia asked cheerfully, and then frowned, "More importantly, where's Blue? And what're you doing here?"

"Another mission. Basically, we were called to investigate why there's a strike going on. The poster said it was over docked wages, but I'm beginning to think it's about this Mystic," Rouge explained. Annie laughed, ripping the ribbon around her neck off.

"Of course it's about that sex-driven demon!" Annie yelled furiously, "What the hell took you morons so long to get here, anyway!?"

"Hey, keep that attitude up and I'm arresting you!" Rouge exclaimed, and Annie simply grinned.

"Fine. Anywhere is better than this piece of shit we call a resort," she stated smugly, crossing her arms, "So, Captain McStupid, are you going to cuff me or do I need to beat you up to get there?" Rouge growled angrily; he had no time for Annie or her antics. He turned back to Emelia, promptly ignoring Annie.

"I need to get in there and get some answers. Can you help me?" he asked her, "If Annie's quitting, I could use her uniform to go in undercover and see what's actually happening." Emelia smiled as Annie ripped off her suit, and Rouge was glad she was wearing her normal clothes under it, or he might have killed himself from such a sight. She shoved it into his hands, and snorted again.

"So, you're really going to cross-dress?" she asked him, grinning again, "Funny. I didn't think you would after Ciato's little interest in you." Rouge nearly choked on his saliva, and his eye twitched. That was a terrible memory, and he couldn't even understand how _Annie_ knew about it! When he asked, she laughed and said, "I have my ways, Mr. Mystic-Lover."

"_I HATE CIATO!_" he screamed, as Annie laughed and walked away. Emelia wished him good look before joining Annie, and their friend simply ran off, too afraid of what Rouge might do next. He glared at the suit, which was nothing more than an outfit for a cocktail waitress, complete with bunny ears. He shivered. If Ciato _were_ there, he'd have been all over Rouge, no doubt. But, he wasn't, and that was something Rouge was thankful for. Sighing, he walked back behind the plant and began to change into his new uniform, trying to down out what he thought Ciato's reaction would've been.

"…Cross-dressing is so evil sometimes. There'd better be no Mystics up there or someone dies."

--(End Chapter)

And so, after reaching their vacation destination, Rouge decides to do some searching as Blue and Fuse unwind a bit. But, now, Rouge must encounter his worst nightmare in order to follow the one lead they have: he must dress as a woman and deal with men thinking him as such. Can he survive such a plight, or will it drive him to the brink of insanity? What will Blue do when he does find out? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	27. Crossdressing and Cross Examinations

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they swear not all the Mystics are gay. I swear, they most certainly are.

It'd taken but a minute to change from being a cop to being a waitress working in Baccarat, but it felt like an eternity passed before Rouge accepted his new look as he stared in the mirror the bartender had provided him. He asked his new friend for help, and though the bartender was getting ready for Happy hour, he agreed once he saw Rouge was working with IRPO. And now, Rouge regretted ignoring his twin. He stood in the back of the bar, complete in waitress drag, his face as red as the tomato on the counter.

"I look stupid," he growled, shoving the bunny ears onto his head, "I look so damn stupid! Why the hell did I do this!?"

"Wasn't it so you could show that brother of yours you're responsible?" the bartender asked, looking back over the counter, "You said he didn't think you could handle this, right?" Rouge simply grunted unhappily. That was true, and though he was still angry at Blue for calling him irresponsible, he now sourly wished he stayed with his twin instead of doing this. This was insulting.

"Well, yeah, but this is stupid!" Rouge exclaimed, scowling, "Why should I dress as a woman just to gain access to the upper floor!? I'm a police cop, for crying out loud!"

"Well, the Mystic up there doesn't like men, so you just have to deal, mate," the bartender said, and whistled when Rouge stepped out, "Wow, you sure look convincing, mate. Are you ready?" Rouge looked at the belt he tied around his waist. Two guns barely stuck out of them, and he was glad he found a way to hide them beneath his new clothes. If he found trouble, he wanted to know he had a weapon right there in case he truly needed it.

"AGUNI MBX36 in one hand… Lethal Gun in the other…" Rouge went over carefully, "I have a shitload of magic, and a few Magi-Waters just in case. I think I'm good to go." He nodded at the bartender, who gave him the thumbs-up as he passed someone at the bar a drink.

"Good luck up there, mate," he said, "Try not to kill anything." Rouge nodded again, and then was off. He could hear his heartbeat quicken as he made his way to the stairs, and along the way, one of the other waitresses gave him an odd stare as he passed her. When she saw his IRPO badge, she nodded and let him continue onwards. He climbed the stairs, listening intently as he did so. He could hear voices coming from the office upstairs, and he stopped, crouching to listen without being seen.

"We can't help that our girls don't like you, friend," came a surprisingly deep voice, and Rouge wasn't sure if it was Gnome or Mystic speaking, "But we can't have you scaring our workers away like this."

"Then I may need to pull back my support," that voice belonged to… Orlouge!? Why was Orlouge here? Rouge's brow raised in worry as he continued to listen, "Besides, they are misinterpreting my request. I want them to come with me so I can ask their opinions on a new part of Rootville I'm trying to build. It's a recreational facility for humans who wind up in my world, but it's being run by women. I need a human's opinion, preferably female." Rouge snorted. He highly doubted that was what Orlouge was actually trying to do, and he was sure the gnomes weren't buying it, either.

"N-no! You can't pull back your support, Mystic!" another gnome cried, this one's voice being high and squeaky, "Baccarat will be taken away if we don't have the money! We can't allow that!"

"I'm aware of human affairs," Orlouge said calmly, "And I agree, but I need to think carefully of where my money goes. My world requires my attention, gnomes. And if your women can't help me, I can't see the point in supporting a place that opposes me so violently." Rouge sighed, not sure if he should believe Orlouge or not. The man was honest, at least, but Rouge knew about his obsession with women.

"We can't let you scare them all off!" said a third gnome, angrily, "We're losing money because they're quitting! And it's your fault!" Rouge heard a chair moving back quickly, and began to worry that Orlouge might actually resort to violence. He himself never struck a human, but if he had Ildon or Ciato with him, the gnomes were as good as dead. Rouge couldn't let that happen.

"My fault?" Orlouge asked calmly, "My dearest friends, let me assure…!?" At that moment, Orlouge was cut off as Rouge burst right into the room, brandishing his two guns. But, as he rushed in, he saw with utter dismay that Ciato was indeed with Orlouge. And, he was _grinning at Rouge_.

"You're the very picture of beauty," he said seductively, his grin widening. Rouge froze, his eye twitching. He had a feeling Ciato knew it was him, but just in case, he decided to point out that he was male.

"I'm a cop, moron. I'm undercover to see what the hell is going on here!" Rouge exclaimed, and pointed a threatening finger when Ciato's grin simply grew again, "I'll arrest you for sexual harassment if you don't stop grinning at me, too!" Ciato snorted, and finally looked away, shaking his head. Orlouge simply blinked, not sure what to make of the situation, and it was clear the gnomes themselves were terrified of Rouge. They were all shivering profusely.

"I'd love to see you try," Ciato said smugly, "Anyway, I'm just teasing you. So either get to the point of interrupting Lord Orlouge, or get out." Rouge growled. He knew now why Ildon hated Ciato so much; aside from being a stalker, Ciato was also an asshole when he wanted to be. And, from Rouge's past experiences with the Mystic, he almost always wanted to be. Rouge set his gun down slowly, but his gaze never left the Mystics.

"I was sent here with my brother and boss because we were told there's a strike going on," Rouge explained warily, glancing from both Mystics to the gnomes, "We were told it was getting violent, so I came to investigate while my brother is planning out our next move."

"I was wondering where Blue was," Orlouge commented, stroking his chin calmly, "But you are mistaken, my dear friend. The only violence here is when the woman I happen to be interrogating is a mage and uses a spell on me. And, I'm quite glad you explained yourself or I'd be asking you to fly to Rootville to help me." Rouge's eyes narrowed. He barely remembered much of Rootville from when he was in Fascinaturu, but if it was anything like the chateau Orlouge lived in, it would be dark and creepy. He didn't want to go there, and he didn't blame the workers for not wanting to, either.

"Maybe it's the way you're asking them, then," Rouge suggested, and when Orlouge gave him a puzzled look, he continued, "If you simply say 'will you come to my kingdom with me,' they're going to be irked out." Orlouge blinked, and glanced at Ciato, who simply shrugged in disinterest. Mystics were always direct with their needs, but perhaps Rouge had a point. He returned his look to the magician.

"Then what do I say?" Orlouge asked, "Normally, I am quite charming, but the humans seem to be losing their weakness to me. I haven't the skill, I suppose." Rouge's eyes widened in slight worry. He didn't _like_ Orlouge, but he knew what the man was: The _Charm_ Lord. How could he _not_ find a way to speak to a person without attracting them… or angering them? But, Rouge wanted to be nice. He decided to help the poor man out, even though Blue said his people skills needed work. What did Blue know, anyway?

"Well… maybe if you explained your situation first?" Rouge offered, still slightly concerned, "How about this: 'I'm working on expanding my city, but most of the services are generally run by women. As such, I need to figure out what to build to help accommodate my female employees. Will you by interested in heading to Fascinaturu with me and give me an opinion? It will help me tremendously, and I will gladly pay for the flight." Ciato's eyes narrowed in a sneer; obviously, he didn't like that idea very much. But Orlouge was considering it. The gnomes seemed relaxed by what Rouge suggested, and finally, Orlouge nodded.

"Yes," he said, and smiled, "Yes, that sound quite good. I will try that, but I'm afraid I'm scaring everyone away… What can I do?" Rouge hummed, looking down. That was a decent reason to be concerned. But, one of the gnomes seemed willing to help.

"It's all right. Avalyn might be able to come up, if she's not working reception downstairs in the hotel," the gnome said, and soon called the girl in question up. Orlouge waited patiently, and when the woman finally entered, Rouge could tell the Mystic was getting nervous. Obviously, he realized he wasn't nearly as charming to humans as he was to Mystics. Rouge patted his back as the woman sat down.

"What is it?" she asked, "I have two cops downstairs who are asking me where their friend is." Rouge's skin paled, and Ciato snorted with laughter. It was obvious Blue had caught onto Rouge's antics. He glanced at Orlouge, who cleared his throat.

"I'll make it quick so you can go back. As the owner of Fascinaturu, I'm trying to build a recreational center so that if humans wind up in my world, they have a place to stay," Orlouge began, and to his surprise, the woman actually seemed interested, "The problem is, it will be primarily run by Mystic women. I need help to figure out what is needed to accommodate both my employees and my guests, and I was hoping human women would be able to do that. If you're interested, I would happily pay for the flight down there." Rouge silently crossed his fingers, looking at the woman. She seemed skeptical, and her next question seemed to shatter Orlouge's hopes.

"Aren't you that womanizing Mystic we keep hearing about?" she asked, and Orlouge's skin paled miserably. He had just been shot down… or so he thought, as he tried to fix his problem.

"I… I was… but I see that I was wrong for what I did," Orlouge said apologetically, "This is strictly to help my employees. I assure you on my life that if anything improper passes, if you decide this, I will throw myself off the bridge to hell." Rouge winced. That seemed a little overkill, but the look on the woman's face told him it actually worked. She smiled.

"I'm not sure what to say, but you seem pretty honest about this," she replied, "I'll sign myself up. I'll even make some calls and tell some of the girls about what's really going on." Rouge glanced at Orlouge, and his eyes brightened. Either this _was_ a ploy, or he was just happy that something was actually working out for him.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed, "It would be a pleasure. I leave in two days, though, so it's imperative that you and anyone else who wishes to go be ready by then. Is that suitable?" The woman nodded.

"Knowing our girls, they'll be ready in ten minutes," she replied, "Mr. Orlouge, I'm sorry that we judged you so harshly. I'll be sure to explain your situation. I know some of them would be interested to see the Mystic world." Orlouge smiled, genuinely pleased, and shook the woman's hand as they all stood up.

"It will be a pleasure to work with you all," he told her, and Rouge snorted. A pleasure indeed, if Orlouge was still up to his old tricks. But, when he turned to Ciato, Rouge had no sense of plot in the man as he said, "Come, Ciato. We'll need to tell Ildon we have some guests who will be joining us on the flight back. Hopefully, the hotel won't be booked, correct?"

"Unless Zozma decided to throw a party, it'll be empty," Ciato said grimly, and turned to Rouge, "Well, my darling, it was nice seeing you again. If _you_ want to come and help us, feel free." He blew Rouge another mocking kiss, and Rouge screamed bloody murder as Orlouge, the woman, and Ciato himself walked out. How _dare_ that little monster mock _him_!

"Go to hell, bat boy!" Rouge yelled, but Ciato merely laughed as he and Orlouge walked down the stairs toward the elevator. Then, he remembered that Blue was still looking for him. Blushing in embarrassment, he turned to leave… until something small grabbed his arms. He turned and looked down to see an elderly gnome holding onto him, his red beard shaking as he tried to speak.

"Wait, officer," he croaked, his voice much older than the others, "We have another problem that we didn't wish for Orlouge to know." Rouge knelt down to see him better.

"What is it?" he asked, silently cursing as he had to keep adjusting his costume so it didn't fall off. The elder gnome seemed to hesitate, and then looked down sadly at the carpet.

"See, some of our funds are being pilfered, but we do not know why," he explained, "Nor do we know who's done it. There are no clues, nothing to help us. That's why we actually called you here." Rouge frowned. So this was a theft issue. His immediate thought went to Orlouge, but when he suggested it, the gnome shook his head and said, "No, it wasn't Orlouge. He wouldn't do this to us. It is someone in Baccarat. We can smell the missing gold, but we do not know where it's coming from."

"Do you have anyone you suspect implicitly?" Rouge asked, trying his best to be professional. But, in all honesty, this was his first time interrogating anyone without Blue to correct him if he needed it. The gnome shook his head again.

"We do not," he told Rouge regretfully, "We don't know why anyone would do this, but this is why we needed Orlouge. Our funds are being drained, and we can't figure out why." Rouge hummed. Something smelled wrong in this scenario. He trusted this gnome; the old man seemed genuinely upset, and he wasn't lying, either. But how could their fortunes go missing from under their noses? Rouge had no idea about how gnomes worked or what magic they possessed, but he knew Blue would have an idea. He finally stood up, looking down at the dwarves.

"I'll talk to my brother on this and see what he thinks," he told them firmly, "He'll probably see something I'm missing. If we find something, I'll tell you." The gnome nodded, and smiled warmly at Rouge. He could barely see the gnome's yellowing teeth beneath the red beard, but he knew the smile was genuine as well.

"Thank you, kind human," he replied, "Few have helped us with this problem. We trust that you'll find something." Rouge nodded, and then left the office. In all honesty, he had no idea where he should even start his search, but he figured he at least had to tell Blue what was going on. He ran down the stairs and toward the elevator, slamming the button impatiently. But, when the doors opened, he gasped as he saw Blue in the elevator. Likewise, Blue stared in absolute horror at what Rouge was currently wearing.

"…what the hell are you doing here!?" they both asked in unison, both unable to believe the other was actually there. Blue was the first to answer.

"I came here to drag you back to our room before you did anything cataclysmically stupid," Blue replied shortly, eyes narrowing flatly, "Why are you in a cocktail outfit?" Rouge blushed, and climbed into the elevator as Blue selected a lower level to get to. The elevator slowly rumbled downward.

"I was undercover to see what the deal behind the docked wages was," Rouge replied calmly, as soft music began to play behind them, "It turns out it's not a strike. Orlouge was trying to get women to head to Fascinaturu with him."

"Oh god…" Blue moaned miserably, shaking his head. Rouge snorted. He didn't blame Blue for jumping to that conclusion, but when he explained the truth, Blue simply raised an amused brow, as though he didn't believe a word of it, "He's looking for _opinions_? On what? What wine gets them the most drunk?" Rouge grinned. Normally, _he_ was the one with the sarcastic remarks. Obviously, Blue was having a crappy time here, and it showed. Rouge shook his head.

"No, something about accommodating his staff," Rouge explained, "I'm not sure, but he managed to convince one woman, and she's going to explain the actual situation." Blue nodded.

"Does that mean we can go home now?" he asked, and Rouge actually laughed at him. To Blue's dismay, Rouge shook his head, taking off the bunny ears he was wearing. The elevator doors swung open, leading into the dim hall of the hotel branch of Baccarat, and both brothers stepped off.

"Unfortunately, bro, we have another problem," Rouge told him grimly, and Blue glanced at him, "The only reason the gnomes asked for Orlouge's help at all is because someone is stealing the funds right from under them. They don't even know who's doing it, but they know it's someone." Blue's eyes narrowed again as they came to their door, and he took out the key needed to get inside. Already, they could hear Fuse's snores, but they ignored them.

"Let me guess: We're going to figure out who's doing it for them," Blue guessed, and when Rouge shook his head, he asked, "And who did you put in charge of _this_?" Rouge's skin paled, and Blue pretty much knew his answer before Rouge even gave it.

"…you," Rouge whispered, and Blue sighed as he opened the door. They walked into the dark room, careful not to trip on anything, lest they woke Fuse up. They needed peace in order to think, and Fuse just wasn't good at giving them that. Blue sat down in a chair and pulled his laptop over. He logged onto the internet to see if they could get any clues from Moogle.

"Rouge, you know gnomes aren't my specialty," Blue stated firmly, reading something on screen, "I wouldn't know who or what is doing this, and you really should have waited for me before agreeing to this."

"I know! I know!" Rouge exclaimed, getting into a set of robes he brought with him, "Blue, I couldn't just say no to them. They seemed so desperate, and it's our job to help them!" Blue sighed again. He knew that, but how was he supposed to figure out what was going on? Rouge finished dressing himself, and walked over, looking at whatever Blue was reading as he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get some idea as to where we can start," Blue replied, frowning, "I don't think the gnomes want the other worlds to know they're in trouble. Each story says something different. They've had multiple detectives coming to ask what happened, and they always gave different answers." Rouge frowned as well. That would make their search harder, because any one of the stories could've been the truth.

"Why would they do that?" he asked, sitting across from Blue. Blue read the rest of his current article, and then shrugged, looking up at Rouge critically. Both seemed to sense the other's worry for what was happening, and Blue looked back at the computer screen. He clicked another link, but again, had no idea if the story he was looking at was the truth.

"Shame, maybe?" Blue suggested calmly, "Perhaps they're worried it'd destroy their business. Either way, something's going on, and now we need to solve it. Did they say anything important about the problem?" Rouge recalled the short conversation concerning the matter, slowly nodded his head.

"Yes, they did," he replied, "They said they think someone in Baccarat is behind it, and they _can_ smell the gold. They just don't know _where_ it is." Blue nodded, thinking on that carefully. That narrowed down their search a little bit, but they still needed to know where to start. Chances are, it wasn't on the upper floors. The gnomes would've been able to find it. It had to be in the basement, or… in the sewers. Blue sighed. He really didn't want to go down there.

"We need access to the lower floors before we go plunging into the sewers," he stated, and Rouge nodded, fully sharing the want to never see a sewer again, "Is there anyone who could help us out?" Rouge nodded quickly at that. He stood up, and walked to the door, with Blue raising a confused brow. Rouge simply waved at Blue to follow him.

"I know a guy who'd help us," he said, "Come on."

"What about Fuse?" Blue asked, as they both stepped out. Rouge snorted, closing the door behind them as they walked down the hall, back toward the elevator.

"What about him? Knowing him, he'll bitch about something that happened twenty years ago," Rouge replied, "We need to help these people and we can't waste time listening to his stories. Come on. My friend should still be working." Blue blinked, wondering what Rouge was talking about as they both climbed back into the elevator. Rouge pressed a button, and as it rumbled upwards, both twins remained silent, both lost in their thoughts about their case. Blue was wondering what knowledge he had that could help them narrow down the suspect list, if any, and Rouge was hoping the bartender from before was still working, or would at least be free enough to help them if he was. Within a short minute, the elevator stopped, and both twins stepped out into the quiet, dim bar room. Rouge looked around, and saw that nearly no one was around despite the bartender saying it was near Happy hour.

"Wow, this isn't what I expected to see," Rouge stated, raising a confused brow as he led Blue through the maze of tables and chairs. There were only a few customers, and they all eyed Blue nervously as he passed, obviously worrying because of his IRPO uniform. Blue ignored them; there was nothing wrong with drinking unless it ended in violence. He followed Rouge until they reached the bar, but the bartender wasn't there. Blinking, and slightly dismayed, Rouge sat down in a stool as Blue leaned against the counter, looking around.

"Where's this friend of yours?" Blue asked him, "If you brought me to meet a drunkard, we're leaving."

"It's nothing like that, bro," Rouge replied, frowning as he looked at the empty bar, "He works here. He's the one who helped me find Orlouge. I wonder where he is, though." He looked into the area behind the bar and called, "Hey, Mike, are you here!?" Blue raised a brow, and then turned to see a man stepping out of the kitchen, wearing a black tux. It was the bartender, and he waved when he saw Rouge. He walked over to the counter.

"Hello, mate. I'm guessing your meeting went well, eh?" he asked. Rouge nodded as Blue watched in utter confusion. Obviously, something happened that he wasn't aware of.

"It went as good as it could've been," Rouge replied, and then became grim as he leaned forward, "But we have a new problem. Someone's been stealing funds from the gnomes. That's why they need Orlouge in the first place. Have you seen anyone coming through with any form of pack or bag? Anything suspicious?" The bartender, Mike, looked up thoughtfully as he took a glass and unconsciously began to polish it. He didn't normally pay too much attention to what happened; his only job was to serve drinks, after all.

"Nothing I can recall, but I remember late one night last week, I was trying to close up the bar and I heard rustling somewhere," the bartender replied, "But nothing was there. I'm not sure what it was, but I didn't report it. I didn't know what I heard, or if it was just in my mind."

"Well, that's a lead, I guess," Rouge commented, looking back at Blue, who still seemed unable to believe Rouge actually managed to befriend someone while on a mission, "What do you think, bro?" Blue blinked, obviously not expecting to be called on in the conversation.

"…I don't think that's enough to work with yet," Blue replied seriously, crossing his arms, "Where did you hear it, and where is the best place to hide a lot of money? We need locations and places if we're going to solve this." Rouge nodded, and turned back to the bartender, who poured a glass of whiskey and handed it to another Mystic who was visiting.

"The noise? Over near that potted plant, mates," he replied, pointing to a plant near the elevator, "As to hiding things, there's rumors that Baccarat was built on top of a giant, underground cave. There's an entrance to it in the garage, but I've never gone into the cave before. I can't tell you much more than that, but if anyone here has stuff to hide, that'd probably be the best place for it." Blue and Rouge glanced at each other. That was probably the best lead they could've asked for at that point, and wasting no time, they headed toward the potted plant that was pointed out. At first, nothing was there, but as Blue sifted the dirt inside of the pot, he pulled out what looked like a key. It was long and silver, with a picture of a fairy on it. He showed it to Rouge.

"Does this look like a car key to you?" he asked Rouge, nudging at the possibility that their thief was still here. Rouge nodded and pressed on the elevator.

"Let's go," he said, and they went inside. Within two minutes, they were running through the parking lot, though they had decided to leave Fuse back in the room to nap. There were only three cars in the garage, and they both prayed the key unlocked one of them. Blue stopped at the first car, a red PT Cruiser with a golden bat on it. He slid the key into the lock, but it didn't fit. He looked over at Rouge and shook his head.

"No good. It's not a match," Blue called, as Rouge ran to the car across from it, a white jaguar. Blue threw the key to him and Rouge tried his luck. Again, no fit. That left the last car, and as they both walked over, Rouge slid the key into the lock. It fit perfectly, and the door swung open. Rouge climbed into the car before Blue could even object, and began to muck around with everything inside.

"Rouge! Rouge, what the hell are you doing!?" Blue hissed, keeping his voice low in case someone came out. Rouge popped his head back out and grinned.

"I'm looking for evidence," he replied. Blue shook his head.

"No, you're messing with a crime scene!" Blue exclaimed, and tugged on Rouge's arm, "Come on. Get out of there! Now!!" Rouge growled, trying to break free, but the two brothers simply struggled until Blue finally managed to pull his twin out of the car, both of them crashing into the pavement as they fell backwards. Rouge scrambled up and glared at Blue, who rubbed his head and winced. Blue managed to hit the pavement very hard, and his head hurt from it.

"Why'd you do that!?" Rouge exclaimed, throwing his arms up, "I could've found a bunch of useful clues!"

"Breaking and entering is illegal, Rouge," Blue retorted sternly, frowning, "I will _not_ advocate it, even if Fuse does. So stop this, close the damn car, and let's go before anyone catches us, okay?" Rouge sighed and nodded reluctantly, but as he turned, a sharp hand gripped him on the shoulder, and his eyes widened. He stood face to face with a man dressed entirely in black, his cap obscuring most of his face. Blue stood up, shivering, and he could see Rouge was ready to collapse in shock. The man simply snickered.

"It's too bad we caught you," he said in a dark, gravelly voice, "You two are very bad boys. You know what we do to boys like you?"

"Let us go and pretend this didn't happen?" Rouge answered nervously, laughing, but the man smacked him across the face. Blue immediately got his gun and aimed angrily as Rouge fell to the floor.

"Hey! You just assaulted a police officer, bastard!" Blue yelled angrily, "That's easily a year of jail time for you." The man perked an eyebrow, though Blue couldn't see it. Obviously, he didn't fear anything Blue could've done to him, even with a gun pointed to his face.

"I don't think that'll be happening," the man said, grabbing the gun before Blue could shoot. Blue clenched his fists and tried to tackle the man over, but something very heavy slammed into his head, and he fell to the ground much like Rouge had. Two more men had ambushed him from behind, and the first man looked down at the two and said, "Such a pity that two little Magic Kingdom brats are IRPO's best defense. Are the goods still there?" The second man peered into the car, and nodded when he saw that all that had happened was that they unlocked the door.

"They didn't take nothin'," the second man replied, "Should we tells the boss?"

"We will… _after_ we deal with these two," the first man said, picking Blue up by the collar as the third took Rouge, "They nearly got us. Have to say, I'm a bit surprised they managed to find our keys. Too bad one of them is a moron and the other can't bring himself to break rules." He snorted, and then kicked open the entrance underground, as the bartender had explained to Rouge beforehand. The second man watched as the third jumped into the hole, dragging Rouge with him.

"Where's we taking them?" he asked, before the first man jumped down himself. The first man grinned.

"Somewhere even their stupid boss can't find them," he replied, "Come on, let's go before they wake up. I don't want to bash them so hard that their brains fly out." With that, he jumped down the hole with Blue, his partner following shortly after. Wherever they were going, Blue and Rouge had to wake up soon… or they might not wake up at all…

--(End Chapter)

And so, with only half the case solved, how can Blue and Rouge get out of this mess? Sure, the bartender helped them out tremendously, but now they're being helplessly dragged through a place not even Fuse knows about, so what could possibly happen to them now? Will Fuse manage to find them, and can the bartender make a return to help? Who are those mysterious men, and why _did_ they attack out heroes? Who is behind the gold theft, and will they be caught? And, will the two twins manage to live? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	28. Mazes and Monsters

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they can't believe the lack of fanfictions for this game. Neither can I.

"Way to go, Rouge," Blue mumbled into the darkness, "You really screwed up this time, you know that?" It had taken all but twenty minutes for the thugs to drag Blue and Rouge through a series of dark, twisting tunnels and then to chain them up to a damp wall. They couldn't see where they were; there was absolutely no light at all in the tunnels. But, they could hear just fine. They heard the footsteps fading as the thugs left them in a dark, damp chamber, and they faintly heard running water. Rouge heard a slight drip close to him, and shivered when he felt some form of liquid dropping onto his shoulder. He looked to his left; he couldn't see Blue, but he had a feeling Blue was just at his left.

"Hey, how was I supposed to know we were being followed?" Rouge snapped back, his face twisting in a scowl, "Besides, I didn't see _you_ shooting them." He heard Blue growl angrily, and quickly decided he'd gone a bit too far. Only when he heard Blue's voice did he know that for certain.

"I _tried_ to. They disarmed me," Blue replied with controlled anger, "I guess it doesn't matter if it was my fault or yours. We're still trapped here." Rouge nodded, even though he knew Blue couldn't see him. Fighting amongst themselves really was pointless, and all it'd actually do is alert their captors that they were up. He sighed, wondering just how either of them could get out of this predicament. He could see nothing; he didn't even know if there _was_ a way out. He turned toward where Blue's voice had come from.

"Think we can use magic to light the place up?" he asked hopefully.

"We can't move our hands, Rouge," Blue replied flatly, crushing any hope Rouge had, "We can't use magic." Rouge looked down. That was a bit of a blow to him, especially since they both had relied on magic to help them so much before. He sighed again, wincing as another drop of water splashed onto his shoulder, soaking his robe again.

"So, who do you think is behind this?" Rouge asked, hoping to at least keep Blue's spirits up. Blue tried to eye his brother suspiciously, wondering why Rouge would even ask that. He'd seen just about as much as Blue had before they were clocked on their heads.

"You're seriously going to ask me to sort out every organized mob in our worlds and discern which one would pull _this_ off?" Blue asked, and laughed, "Do you have any idea how many people it could be?" Rouge hummed. That was true enough, but they had to do _something_. Rouge knew he'd go crazy if he didn't keep talking. The silence, mixed with such an oppressive darkness, threatened to crush them both.

"Well, can't we use motive to file them out?" Rouge asked, and Blue gave him another dry laugh.

"Baccarat's riches are the motive, Rouge," Blue pointed out simply, "It literally could be anyone looking to make some money, including our boss and ourselves. Do you really want me to go that route?" Rouge shook his head, and though Blue couldn't see, he guessed his brother's answer by the silence that followed. They both stayed quiet for a minute as Rouge tried to take in what Blue had said. This case definitely wasn't going well, and they had nothing to work with, either. Maybe he had asked too much of his twin?

"…hey, if it was Fuse, how the hell did he pull it off if he was asleep?" Rouge asked slyly, and Blue finally had to laugh with amusement, not with mock. The memories of Fuse snoozing on the job were just ironic right then, especially considering that his _workers_ were in terrible danger, with the hot-headed cop being none the wiser about it, either. He seriously doubted it could've been Fuse. The cop just wasn't savvy enough for this sort of thing.

"Either he's a telepath or he didn't do it," Blue replied, "I just hope he wakes up and realizes we're gone."

"Yeah. If we die because he couldn't move his slow ass, I'm going to come back and kill him," Rouge added, "Especially seeing as how he's on _our_ asses about paying off that stupid dept I owe him." Rouge sighed, and when Blue didn't respond, he said, "I wonder how much we actually owe."

"If we're lucky, we don't owe anything anymore," Blue replied calmly, "But… what does that mean for us?" Rouge never really considered that. He didn't think he'd like his job, but now that Blue brought it up, he was surprised to find that indeed, he did. He _liked_ traveling and throwing the bad guys into prison. He _liked_ helping people. And, it brought him and Blue closer, even if he didn't want to admit that. He liked hanging out with Blue.

"…I'm going to keep my job if he'll let me," Rouge said quietly, and if he could see Blue, he imagined he'd be seeing absolute shock on his twin's face, "If that's okay with you."

"Of course it is," Blue told him firmly, "I'll stay, too. It's the only thing that really gives me a purpose now." Rouge nodded, knowing that if they did quit, life would definitely get boring. Blue would probably spend his days in his room, studying quietly and without the distraction of human contact. Rouge would most probably go back to being a delinquent all day, not caring for how many rules he broke. He didn't want that for either of them. He snorted softly.

"What is it about being in danger that makes you evaluate your own life?" he asked Blue, and Blue snorted, too, "Is it being chained to a wall or something?"

"I think it's more about realizing that your life could end and knowing that you really don't know anything about yourself or what you want," Blue replied thoughtfully, "Life's so fragile, Rouge. Only when you realize you'll be losing something important, do you realize how important that something was to you. Life's no different." Rouge whistled. He never considered that before, and now he was beginning to understand why Blue had made it so far in the magical arts. Blue was very intelligent.

"That's the sort of deep shit I tended to avoid," Rouge commented, and Blue burst out laughing, to which Rouge defensively cried, "I couldn't understand any of it when the masters tried teaching me! It was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me!" Blue didn't think he should've been shocked to hear that, but shock was his reaction when he heard a heavy bang on the iron door locking them into the chamber. He glanced toward wherever Rouge's voice was coming from, but felt a pang of depression when he remembered he couldn't see his brother at all.

"Shut up in there," came a deep, gravelly reply. Both Blue and Rouge knew it was best to obey, and while they waited for that voice to disappear behind the sound of footsteps, they remained silent. Only when ten minutes passed and they were certain they were alone again did one of them even attempt to whisper.

"Any ideas on how to bust out of here?" Rouge dared to ask, his whispering echo seeming unrealistically loud in the darkness. Blue winced at its sound, but knew Rouge was being as quiet as he possibly could be. Any lower, and Blue doubted he'd have heard his brother at all.

"We need to get rid of these blasted chains first," Blue replied, equally as quiet. He half-expected to be reprimanded by the unseen voice that scolded them before, but when no one else spoke, he continued on, "How loose are yours?" Rouge hummed quietly, and pulled on the chains holding his arms up. They barely budged.

"Rock tight," he replied, "Doubt yours are any better, eh?" Blue tried his luck, but found Rouge's guess to be true. His were just as tight as Rouge's were. He sighed.

"They took great care to make sure we didn't escape," Blue said at length, "There has to be some way we can get out of here!" But, Blue knew very few possibilities were open to them. Without the use of their hands, they couldn't use magic, weapons, or any kind of lock pick, and Blue seriously doubted they could use their minds to move anything physical. Rouge racked his brain for an answer, but only one popped into his head. That one suggestion could give them both enough power, and might break their bonds simply through teleportation. But, it always scared him when he thought to bring Aubergine into their world. It always resulted in exceeded fatigue.

"…what if we transformed into Aubergine?" Rouge asked quietly, and Blue noted the tone of reluctance in his brother's voice. He didn't blame Rouge for it, but it was something to consider. It'd definitely help them out, but the cost… could either of them handle it? If they used it for just a moment, then maybe they could, but any longer… Blue couldn't take such a risk, but what choice did they have? They had to escape. He nodded, and Rouge heard him sigh grimly. That meant an affirmative.

"Are you up to that, Rouge?" Blue asked gently, and Rouge knew he was deeply concerned. He smiled.

"You bet, bro," he replied, hoping to dispel any negativity on the suggestion, "Let's show these bastards we have no respect for kidnapping." Blue nodded, and immediately, both twins closed their eyes, focusing their power. In such silence, it was easy to concentrate; reaching Aubergine's detached mind was simple and took only seconds for the fused master to respond. He came rushing to them, and that blinding light filled the chamber, disintegrating the chains immediately. When they were fused, Aubergine was standing on the floor, looking at his unchained hands, both amused and impressed with what happened.

'_I knew it would work!_' Rouge said proudly, as his apparition appeared behind Aubergine, '_I knew it!_' Blue laughed as he too appeared to stand beside his brother. They both nodded, and closing their eyes again, dismissed their fused self back to its plane, waking up as two again a moment later. Rouge stood up and brushed himself off, glad to be able to move his stiff joints. Likewise, Blue seemed just as happy.

"Should we go out there and kick their asses now?" Rouge asked, stretching out his legs to make sure they worked properly before they began walking out. But, Blue had other ideas. Rouge heard him feeling around the wall for something, and though Rouge couldn't see what it could've possibly been, he could only guess. And, Blue's suggestion proved he was right.

"I'd like to find a light switch and see if we can find our weapons first," Blue replied, coming across a switch just as he spoke, "…there. _ACK, MY EYES!_" The light felt blinding to him, and unfortunately, Rouge wasn't quick enough to shield himself from the bright onslaught either. They both crashed to the floor, squeezing their eyes shut to prevent complete blindness and praying no one outside heard the ruckus they were creating. Slowly, oh so slowly, their eyes adjusted to the light, and Rouge was the first to recover. He looked over at his brother and thrust out a fist, aiming to hit Blue for his idiotic move.

"Way to go, moron," Rouge mumbled, "Are you _trying_ to get us caught?"

"I was _trying_ to find the light," Blue retorted angrily, swiping his twin's fist away, "Now help me look for our weapons." Rouge snorted furiously, but went to help Blue nonetheless. The room they had been kept in was bare; only a small table and a chair adorned it, with a grimy tankard to decorate it. Dust was thick on the table, and even more so on the windowsill that housed a boarded window to who-knew-where. The walls were simple slabs of stone. The only thing that decorated them were the broken chains Aubergine had created. Rouge looked under the table and chairs for their weapons, but there was no sign of the equipment anywhere. Blue searched the various nooks and crannies, but again, not a staff was in sight. Rouge finally kicked the chair over in frustration as Blue rapped on the boarded window impatiently.

"Our weapons aren't even here!" Rouge exclaimed, throwing his arms up, "Those bastards better _not_ have thrown out dad's Ancestral staff, or someone gets to die." Blue rolled his eyes as he continued his valiant search, but even he had to admit the weapons weren't in the room. At that moment, he was glad he had learned just a tiny bit of martial arts from Fei-On. He wasn't _entirely_ helpless. He turned to Rouge.

"Should we head out now?" he asked, and for once, he noted that Rouge seemed to hesitate, which wasn't like him at all. Even if they had no weapons, they still had their magic, and Blue couldn't figure out what could've been Rouge's problem.

"Bro, we don't have weapons," Rouge stated calmly, though Blue felt that was obvious.

"We have magic," Blue replied, crossing his arms, "We'll be okay." Rouge shifted nervously, and Blue sensed something was very wrong. He perked a concerned brow.

"We don't have weapons," Rouge stated again, and Blue sighed. He held out a hand and said "Energy Chain!" But, to his mortal shock, nothing happened. No sparks of power flew from Blue's hands. He tried his spell again, but nothing happened. Terror rimming his eyes at that point, Blue frantically tried the simplest spell he knew: Sunray. Not even that produced an effect, and now Blue saw why Rouge was so nervous. They had no magic.

"What the hell happened to our power?" he asked in a quiet whisper, looking at his hand in controlled fear, "Did they take our magic away?"

"They must have," Rouge confirmed sadly, "But how? How could they take our life essences away from us? Shouldn't we have died?" Blue's lips grew thin. By all normal means, they should have if their magic truly left them. But they were still standing. He shook his head to dispel the thought.

"There must be some form of explanation for this," Blue told his brother sternly, "We should try and find out what happened." Rouge nodded, but he didn't step forward. Blue waited patiently, but when Rouge didn't move at all in minutes, he had to ask, "What is it?" Rouge looked away, and Blue finally saw how scared he actually was.

"What if we die out there?" Rouge whispered. Blue's expression softened and he walked over to join his brother.

"Rouge, we…"

"Blue, we have no magic!" Rouge exclaimed, looking at his twin seriously, "We don't even have Fuse to back us up, and everyone out there wants us dead! If something happens and we need our magic, we're as good as dead! We can't _live_ without magic!" Blue hummed. That wasn't entirely true. He'd gone without magic before, but he knew better than to bring that up. Rouge was terrified, and if Blue had any hopes of going onward, he had to dissipate that fear. He patted Rouge's shoulder and made the man sit in the small chair.

"All right, calm down," Blue said softly, "We won't leave this room until we find some magic, all right?" Rouge nodded, shivering. Then, he looked up at Blue. He didn't doubt his brother's sincerity, but how did he possibly expect to _find_ magic? When Rouge posed this question, Blue laughed and said, "One of these guards has to be carrying some form of magical item, don't they?" Rouge nodded, seeming to understand what Blue was implying.

"We're going to wait until a guard comes in and then kill him?" Rouge asked incredulously. Blue snorted with amusement at the notion. There was no way either of them could kill without their magic or their weapons, but they _could_ knock someone out if they tried.

"Not kill," Blue replied, "But to daze a bit, yes. We just need one item, and that's enough." Rouge seemed to agree, though whether it was reluctant or not, Blue couldn't guess. So, both sitting by the little table, they waited, each thinking very different thoughts. Blue was concerned with the gnomes in Baccarat, and Rouge was wondering if Fuse was even up, or if he'd even know they'd been kidnapped. The wait seemed to drag on, but eventually, the door opened and one of the thugs from before wandered in.

"What are you doing out of your chains!?" he demanded, tipping his cap just slightly. Blue looked to Rouge, who was the better liar of the two, and Rouge knew instantly his part of the plan. He smiled innocently.

"They snapped," he said simply, "We were waiting until someone came in to fix them." The thug looked at them both skeptically, and then realized that if they _were_ lying about the chains, they could've just run away altogether. He shrugged, and grabbed Rouge's arm, hoisting the man off his seat.

"Well, one way or another, you two are going back up," he said, as Rouge sarcastically exclaimed, "Oh no! This man is chaining me up, brother! Do help me!" Blue hid a snort of laughter as the man promptly ignored Rouge's outbursts as he dragged the magician toward the wall. He quickly learned that was a mistake as the door closed silently behind him. Blue slid by, carrying the small chair, and when the man was decently distracted, Blue slammed the chair on his head. Rouge practically cheered as the man fell backwards, his head bleeding on the floor. Blue felt slightly guilty, knowing he probably dealt a killing blow, but he reminded himself this was technically a life or death situation. He knelt down and searched the man's pockets, quickly grabbing a small, collapsible staff. He looked over at Rouge and showed him the object in question.

"Does this mean anything to you?" he asked, not recognizing the object at all. But, Rouge's eyes shined with delight as he grabbed it and extended the staff for what it was.

"Dad's Ancestral staff!" he shouted with glee, "All right, we have weapons now! Let's go kick some ass!" Blue stopped him before he left, though, and Rouge looked down at him as he continued to search the body.

"There's a key here," Blue stated calmly, "Should I take it with us?" Rouge tapped his chin as he considered the idea. Then, he merely shrugged.

"What could it hurt?" he asked, and Blue pocketed the key. Feeling that they had found all they were going to find with the corpse, Rouge opened the door silently and the two brothers slid out into the dim hall. The soft glow of the torches were a nice contrast to the horribly blinding lights of the cell they were kept in, and they welcomed the dimness gladly. Rouge glanced down either sides of the hall. Both looked to be endless, and he turned to Blue.

"Which way do we go?" he whispered, wincing as his echo bounced down the hall. Blue hummed carefully, biting his lip as he considered each option. He had no idea as to where they could've possibly been, but what he did know was that this was no natural cave anymore. It looked like a basement, and that struck Blue as very ominous. He pointed to the right.

"Down here," he replied just as quietly, and no sooner found a door that resembled the one leading into the cell, "Rouge… hold on." Rouge nodded, watching as Blue fumbled with the key, shoving it into the lock and only hoping it would open the door. To his surprise, it fit, and the door swung open loudly, causing both twins to jump, each praying to the Goddesses that no one heard them. No one appeared in the tunnels, and they slipped into the new cell. What greeted them was a sight they could never have believed. Monsters were kept in this cell, half of the cell being barred to contain them. They winced at the light spilling in behind Blue, and quickly, he shut the door as Rouge walked over, looking at the monsters. The lone torch in the room provided enough light to identify them: rabbats, nightshades, hellhounds, faeries, an undine, various crystals, an airfolk, and a tri-saurus. Rouge sighed sadly, looking at them all.

"Blue… they kidnapped these monsters, too," Rouge whispered, speaking softly so he didn't scare them, "This isn't right."

"I agree," Blue replied, bending down to speak to one of the faeries, "What happened to the tunnels, little one?" The faerie looked up at him sadly, her tiny eyes speckled with tears as she sniffled at him.

"We don't know!" she squeaked, "One day, we were living down here happily, and the next, these bad humans came and threw us in here!"

"How do we know you two aren't like _them!?_" one of the hellhounds demanded, his voice coming out as a depressing yowl. Blue gave him a pat on the muzzle, and the faerie turned to the hound in question as the monsters began to murmur and agree with him.

"They were put in the cell next to ours," she explained, looking at Blue again, "They can't be bad if they were kidnapped too!" She zipped, sprinkling dust as she flew around, and Blue had to laugh. When monsters weren't out to kill you, they were actually very endearing. The hellhound seemed hesitant still, and so, Blue took over the conversation.

"We're here to stop the bad men," he said calmly, "We can let you out if we know where the key is." The hound nodded, and the monsters settled to try and remember what the key looked like, and if they could explain what their captors looked like as well. Rouge watched for a moment, and then tapped on Blue's shoulder to get his attention. The blonde turned to his brother, perking a confused brow at the interruption. Rouge pointed to the pocket where the key was kept, but Blue didn't appear to understand. He snorted at the notion. Blue usually understood every one of Rouge's antics.

"The key, bro," he said simply, "See if it fits." Blue nodded, thinking it couldn't hurt, and took out the slender key. Immediately, the reactions he received told him it was the right key.

"The key!" the rabbat exclaimed, as the airfolk said, "He has the key?" Blue smiled and slipped the key into the lock, throwing the door open to the happiness of all of the monsters. They came rushing out like a tidal wave, their constant shouts of thanks sounding more like little children shouting out something different all at the same time. Blue laughed again as Rouge began to encourage them with cheers and shouts of, "_FREEDOM! YOU ARE FREE, MY LITTLE FRIENDS!! FREEDOM!!_" That only added onto the general confusion.

"Rouge, maybe you shouldn't encourage them so much," Blue reminded him, "There are still the captors we need to contend with." Rouge barely heeded Blue's warning, though, and Blue began to wonder if Rouge was simply ignoring him. However, when Rouge turned to him, he knew his twin at least acknowledged that he had even spoken.

"Oh please. These monsters are so pissed off, those thugs will probably either run in terror or be killed on sight," Rouge replied, waving his brother's reminder off, "If they're so stupid as to not expect a complete revolt on our parts, it really is their fault for their lack of complete foresight." Blue snorted in mock amusement. He did partly agree with Rouge, but to actually pin the blame on the thugs for his own actions, Blue just didn't condone.

"You do realize your logic would constitute possible insanity, right?" Blue questioned, but Rouge just rolled his eyes and huffed. Blue knew he should've expected Rouge's response.

"So what!? Like I said, bro, sanity is for people who hate free thinking," Rouge pointed out, "If those little bastards are going to chain us up and _not_ expect one of us to go insane with rage, then it seriously is their fault if they can't move out of our way. Now stop whining and let's go." Blue grumbled as Rouge slipped out into the hall. Already, he could hear utter chaos ensuing as monsters growled and roared, with another group, most probably their captors, showering the hoard with bullets but missing most of their marks. Blue finally knew he had to help; if he didn't, the monsters could get seriously hurt. Drawing a deep breath, Blue rushed out to follow Rouge and found his twin currently trying to use Reversed Gravity to dump a group of thieves on their heads as a Pickbird swooped ahead to try and herd the group for him. Hellhounds and Tri-sauruses unleashed their furious waves of Fire Breath and Tremors, and all Blue could do was just watch the madness unfold. His eyes widened beyond belief.

"_FOR THE GLORY OF THE VALKYRIES!_" screamed a Spear Valkyrie, as she and many others of her kind threw spears and swords into the fray, aiming skillfully enough to avoid any of their allies. Blue watched the blood splatter as the swords and spears hit their marks, and winced when Rouge was covered in the red liquid, turning to the valkyries and screaming at them.

"HEY! That one hit me!" he screamed, though he really was referring to the blood that had splashed against him, covering his robes and most of his face, "How the hell am I going to wash this out!?" The valkyrie ignored him, though, and continued throwing her weapons. Blue watched the battle unfold a bit before jumping in, mainly because he had no idea where to even begin. The monsters seemed to be doing fine all on their own; most of the captors were either fleeing or were laid upon the ground, dead. Only when a faerie screeched out a warning did Blue look up and see a chance for his attack. One man had climbed the rafters and dropped down to land right on top of Blue, but the magician wasn't scared by such a tactic. He'd seen it before in Shingrow, and had developed his own way of dealing with it.

"Energy Chain!" he exclaimed, thrusting out his hand as a large whip of energy sprang from it, slamming into the unfortunate thief and sending him flying back toward the ceiling. Faeries around him cheered in delight at the display of magic, but Blue himself found no need to cheer. Two more thugs were coming up from behind, having slipped through an Axe-beak that was currently in combat with a group of flustered men. Blue turned sharply to cut them off and unleashed another dangerous whip of magic. This one spun about so forcefully that it snapped one man's neck off and cut the other one's left arm and leg clean from his body. Both of them dropped to the ground and spoke no more.

"Way to go, bro!" Blue heard Rouge exclaim, "Keep it up and we'll all be free!"

"Damn it, you idiots! What the hell are you doing!?" Blue heard a man farther away scream, and saw that man heading into the hall, "Kill them all!" Blue's eyes narrowed. This man, he could sense, was much more dangerous than the others. If he got a shot off, someone would be dead. Blue refused for that to happen. This time, the monsters were the innocents, and quickly, Blue ran to the man as silently as he could. The man was too busy shouting orders, and didn't even notice Blue's movements until he got within inches of the criminal's face. The man looked at him, slightly shocked that Blue had made it so far as he asked, "What do _you_ want, punk?"

"Tell me where you keep the gnome's gold and I won't kill you quickly," Blue threatened in a voice so sinister, so dark, so unbelievably cold, that Rouge wouldn't have believed it was Blue if he heard. The thug merely laughed, completely undaunted with Blue's threats. If only the _stupid, insolent_ cop had known what sort of people this particular criminal dealt with, he wouldn't have made such bland threats.

"I ain't telling you a damn thing," the thug replied just as coldly, "So get out or your brother dies." He realized quickly that it was a big mistake to drag Rouge into their conversation. Blue's pupils disappeared, and his eyes glowed an angry blue. The man suddenly backed away, realizing he had just angered a very powerful mage, but it was too late. Blue put up a prison to keep him from escaping.

"You picked a very bad day to mess with me," Blue said grimly, and lifted a hand, "Implosion!" Immediately, a prism of magic encircled the man's body, and then shattered, breaking him apart as though he were glass. Blood sprayed against the cramped tunnel walls, and though Blue knew the battle was still raging all around him, he could hear none of it. He merely heard the mystical silence as he watched the blood dripping down the walls, seeping into the dirt floor. He looked emotionlessly as he watched the body fall limply to the ground, and then, the psychic prison disappeared, allowing all of the noise to come flooding in. Many more bodies had been slain while Blue dealt with the leader, and most of them had been of their terrible captors. Blue hardly cared. He had to find Rouge and find the gnomes' gold. Rouge was currently trying to help the monsters leave the prison, as one of them blew the gate to the world above up, allowing thick rays of sunlight into the cave. It was blinding compared to the dim of the torches, but the monsters ignored it. Blue tapped Rouge's shoulder, causing the mage to look at him, raising a concerned brow when he saw Blue's grim expression.

"What's up, bro?" he asked, sensing his brother's tension, "Are you okay?"

"I just killed the leader behind our abduction," Blue stated. But, if he expected Rouge to be upset, he got the complete opposite. Rouge actually smiled.

"You did!? Awesome!" Rouge exclaimed, but Blue silenced him quickly.

"No, no! Not awesome!" Blue hissed, "I don't know where he kept the gnomes' gold. He threatened you and I killed him out of instinct. We're back at square one." Rouge's smile slowly faded when he saw how guilty Blue looked, but then his spirit came back as he patted Blue on the shoulder. They weren't at square one. They were where the gold was, and he could sense it. Gnomes' gold always had just a trace of magic, and Rouge's senses were keen enough to smell it. He grinned and shook his head.

"We're here, bro," he replied calmly, "We can get the gold." Blue looked at his brother incredulously, unable to believe they were that lucky, considering how most of their cases went. But, Rouge's grin didn't falter.

"How?" was the only word Blue could think of.

"This way," Rouge said, and began to drag Blue down the tunnels as the last of the monsters left the cave. Blue quickly found he had no idea where Rouge thought he was heading as they twisted through narrow corridors and down mossy slopes until they finally came to a small chasm, with an even smaller opening. This time, Blue also smelled the slight traces of magic in the air, and Rouge pointed to the chasm as he said, "One of the Hellhounds here said they remembered a back cave around here when they were leaving. He said that might be where we're looking for." Blue's lips curled into a soft smile as he realized that it had to be where they needed to go. The smell of gold only got stronger as he neared the opening.

"Monsters really are the best friends we can have," he whispered to himself, and Rouge simply watched as Blue gently poked his head into the opening. No one else was about in the chamber; they must've killed everyone living here. But, Blue saw immediately what they were looking for. Dead in the center was the biggest pile of gold Blue had ever seen. The light it radiated lit the entire chamber perfectly; Blue could even see the dust that swirled in the air under such a magnificent light. That _had_ to be the gnomes' gold. Excitedly, he stepped back and looked at Rouge with glee.

"What'd you find!?" Rouge asked, noting that Blue's sudden ecstasy was really unusual for the magician, "Did you find the gold!?" Blue nodded, his grin only widening.

"It's all in there, Rouge," he whispered happily, "All of it. We found it!" Rouge took a quick glance and whistled at the sheer amount he saw. Never in his life had he seen so many credits before! It was little wonder that the gnomes had become so worried about such a theft. That _had_ to be _billions_ of credits!

"How're we going to get it back to them?" Rouge asked, and suddenly, Blue frowned. That was a real problem, one that he'd never thought of until now. Magic would have no effect on it, and they weren't strong enough to carry that much gold. But, he had an idea. He glanced at Rouge.

"Do you still have your cell phone?" he asked, and Rouge nodded, "…do you have Ciato's number?"

"Unfortunately," Rouge replied, and suddenly became very suspicious of his brother's inquiries, "Wait… why?" Blue smiled as he sat on a log, taking his own phone out and showing Rouge Asellus's number.

"Because Orlouge owes us a few favors," Blue replied. Rouge wanted to scream. He wanted _nothing_ to do with Ciato, but he knew he had little choice. The gnomes couldn't be asked to leave Baccarat in case another theft was made, and no one else was even involved in the case. The Mystics were all they had. Grumpily, he slumped next to Blue and began dialing, with extreme and utter disgust plastered onto his face as he did so, Ciato's phone number. He glanced at his, in his mind, very evil twin brother.

"_You_ owe _me_ for calling this bastard!" he said, and Blue only laughed as he managed to get hold of Asellus. Rouge's eye twitched at Blue's total lack of concern on the threat, and repeated it again just to prove his sincerity.

"Seriously, you owe me!"

--(End Chapter)

And so, it looks like Blue and Rouge finally solved the case, even if it was with the help of actual monsters! But, with no one around to help them carry such a huge amount of gold, it looks like closing such a tedious deal will be delayed yet again! Will calling upon the Mystics serve them well, or will Ciato use it to completely and utterly annoy the crap out of our two heroes? Will Fuse finally notice his men are gone? And, will the gnomes give them a suitable reward for their efforts? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	29. Everybody Hates Ciato: The Sequel!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they hate my portrayal at their characters! I say they need more character development then!

"I can't _believe_ you made me call that little son of a bitch," Rouge grumbled, as he and Blue simply waited on one log that sat at the edge of the room. Ciato had agreed to come over to help them, but it was mostly just to torment Rouge. Asellus also promised to be there, and she was hoping to bring White Rose, Lion, Ildon, and Orlouge himself to help, if she could swing it. Blue didn't know how many Mystics they'd actually need, but the set-up so far seemed all right. Ildon and Ciato were both very powerful by themselves. Blue glanced at his volatile brother and snorted.

"Well, what would _your_ suggestion have been?" Blue retorted sharply, crossing his arms, "Don't tell me you were thinking of magic." Rouge's lips thinned. In all honesty, he was. He was sure that if they fused into Aubergine, they could move all of that gold. Hell, they could just shoot straight upwards and make a shortcut into Baccarat for that matter!

"…fine, then. You don't get to hear _my_ awesome idea," Rouge said, "It's much better than relying on that bastard and his lovers." Blue rolled his eyes. He'd given up trying to get Rouge to lay off the subject of Ciato's sexuality, but it clearly bugged the mage. And, Blue knew he'd be listening to his brother for hours before anyone even showed up. He had half a mind to just abandon Rouge, but his big brother instincts always kicked in before he could force himself to walk right out the cavern. He simply let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.

"It could be worse," he reminded Rouge clearly, and the younger mage looked at his brother skeptically, "Fuse could be here." Rouge snorted. That was true enough, and as much as he respected his boss, he had to admit Fuse had enough of his insane little episodes for an entire squadron of soldiers. And his stories would waste the valuable time they could be using to _think_. He grinned.

"Good point," Rouge conceded, "I wonder where he is, anyway?"

"Still asleep. That's what he was like when _we_ left him," Blue replied, "And if he got up, he's doing a terrible job looking for us. How hard can it be to search Baccarat for two of his men?" Rouge snorted again, but just as he went to reply, his phone went off. Sighing, he flipped it on, expecting it to be Ciato just to annoy him, but to his surprise, it was Fuse. He blinked as he listened to the voice scream, "_WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU TWO!?_" Even Blue had to look over in slight worry at the sheer volume of their boss's voice.

"Uh… well, boss, don't get mad, but…" Rouge began, but Fuse was too busy ranting and raving about their disappearance to even have heard the frightened magician.

"I wake up from a nap to find you both not only _not_ in the hotel room, but out of the entire resort! Where in all that is law-abiding are you!?" Fuse demanded again, "I've been looking for over two hours!" Rouge's lips thinned again, and Blue knew he was getting too nervous about Fuse's violent fit to find a way to answer him. Sighing, Blue took the phone from Rouge to try and smooth things over. It wasn't that he didn't feel Rouge was competent; he just knew his brother's limits.

"Sir, we're currently in the caverns under Baccarat," Blue answered, "A bartender named Mikey can verify that." He heard Fuse pause from his bout of rage for a moment before the disgruntled cop spoke once again.

"…and why the hell are you _there_?" Fuse asked, a bit calmer than before, "That's no way to vacation, boy." Blue snorted. He couldn't believe that after everything that happened, Fuse assumed they were just trying to have some fun. If only he knew the truth. And, Blue intended to give it to him, complete with a scolding as well.

"Because we were doing our _jobs_ while you were napping," Blue replied, and Rouge burst out laughing, "Rouge found some very good leads, and while we were exploring them, three thugs accosted us and brought us down here." He heard Fuse drop something on the ground, and another long pause.

"…are you both all right!?" he asked, genuinely concerned that his best men were hurt. Blue nodded, remembering Fuse couldn't see him.

"We killed them with the help of some friends," Blue stated, leaving out that their friends were monsters that used to live in the cavern, "And we found the gold that was stolen. We've called a band of Mystics to help us carry it all back. They should be here soon." Blue heard the ensuing silence and had to hold back a laugh. Obviously, his idea to call on the Mystics wasn't taken very well. Fuse just blinked, unable to find just the right word to convey what he thought on the idea. Finally, though, he knew it'd be rude to just keep Blue waiting.

"…well, as long as you get it back," Fuse finally said flatly, and Blue could tell he hated the idea of asking Orlouge for any more help, "Should I inform the dwarves?" Blue hummed, wondering if that would do. He had no idea when he could actually get the gold up there, but if the dwarves were around to _see_ that it was safe, then there truly was no harm in it.

"Yes," Blue replied, "That might be best. Tell them we might not have it up right away, but we _have_ found it." He barely heard Rouge getting up off of the ground before he heard Fuse give an affirmative and hang up. Then, he shut off his phone and looked around again. Somehow, hearing his boss's voice reminded him of how lonely the cavern was. Sure, Rouge was right beside him, but the cavern was huge; the gold was no substitute for either light or company. For a long moment, he stared at nothing, only snapping out when Rouge finally poked him.

"You okay, bro?" Rouge asked, sounding very worried as he looked over at his brother, "You've been staring at nothing for a while. Did Fuse piss you off?" Blue chuckled, and shook his head. Even if Fuse _had_ gotten Blue angry, he wouldn't have worried Rouge so much. He ruffled his brother's hair.

"No," he replied gently, as Rouge smiled, "I'm just… thinking. Today's just been a long day, and for some reason, I just feel… nervous." Rouge nodded, his small smile vanishing again. He seemed to be searching for an answer to Blue's nervousness. He leaned back after a moment, letting his head rest in his arms.

"It's probably shock," he concluded, "You're probably just still recovering from being chained up, bro. We weren't hurt, but the darkness alone was enough to strip _my_ nerves." Blue nodded. Truthfully, he didn't think it was shock, but he saw no point in arguing with Rouge. After all, the younger mage was just trying to help. He merely patted his brother on the back, and let the silence continue. It felt odd, not having to worry about monsters coming out to attack them, but Blue welcomed the peace, albeit with tension in his mind over what to expect. He had no idea how any of the Mystics took to being called out so far from their world, and Ciato in particular could get pretty aggressive if he wanted to make a statement. Finally, a small light shone in the cavern, and Blue looked up as Rouge slipped off the log, startled to see any form of light at all. Blue squinted his eyes, but couldn't see anything beyond the slim ray of light.

"Who's there?" he called. Out stepped a figure, his long, green hair flowing behind his purple cloak, and behind him, another Mystic in black armor stood, his own long, white hair tied in a tight ponytail. It was Ciato and Ildon.

"You called for us?" Ildon asked calmly, holding a lantern high enough to shine just a dim light upon the magicians.

"Where's the pile of crap you asked us to move?" Ciato demanded, and smiled when he saw Rouge, "Hello, my beloved human beauty." Rouge made the motion to throw up, and Blue suppressed another chuckle. Always leave it to Ciato to make Rouge uncomfortable in any serious situation. But, for Blue, that would need to wait. They had a job to do, and not liking to waste his time, he stood up, walked over, and immediately shook Ildon's hand, the Mystic giving him a grim smile that suggested he'd rather be somewhere else right then. Blue personally didn't blame him; he remembered the condition Rastaban was in the last time he'd seen him.

"Thank you for coming," Blue said calmly, taking the lantern from Ildon, "Are there any others?" Ildon nodded, taking something else out of his cloak. It looked like some form of paper to Blue, but the dim light made it difficult to tell what it actually was.

"Yes. They're waiting out in the tunnel," the Mystic replied, "Ciato and I are to bring forth the carts, and then send them out to Asellus, Lion, and Orlouge to bring the rest of the way." Blue blinked. He didn't remember saying anything about carts at all. Nor did he understand why Ildon would assume there _was_ one to begin with. Anyone who knew anything about Baccarat knew the tunnels underneath had been abandoned long ago. Any carts that _were_ there were scrapped beyond any use.

"Carts?" he inquired, perking an interested brow at the word. Ildon nodded, placing his free hand on his hip.

"How else did you think we were going to move this gold?" he asked, his green hair sprawling when he tilted his head, "Don't tell me you thought we'd _carry_ it all in our arms." Ciato snorted smugly as Ildon spoke, knowing that was _exactly_ what Blue was thinking. Rouge's lips thinned, and he decided to help his brother with the impatient Mystic. Or, so he hoped to do.

"Not to sound mean or anything, but where the hell are you going to get the carts?" he asked, a tone of skepticism in his voice. Ildon tapped the piece of paper against his hip, giving both magicians an incredulous stare. He felt the answer was obvious, but obviously, neither magician agreed.

"Orlouge supplied me with some spells to fix that," he replied, with just a hint of irritation. He unrolled the paper, and beckoned Blue to bring the lantern just a bit closer. The words were in a language Blue couldn't understand, and the yellowing edges indicated the scripture was quite old. It didn't surprise him too much; Mystics had no true uses for carts, and he wondered why they'd have a scripture to summon one at all. When he asked, Ildon merely said, "Just in case we need to help with human affairs. You humans aren't adept at having everything you need underground." Blue's eye twitched, and now he could see why Rouge didn't like Mystics. They were bastards when they knew they were right. Ciato and Ildon faced each other, and closed their eyes, murmuring the words on the scripture. Rouge and Blue merely watched as a faint light glimmered between the two, growing in strength with each word that passed their lips. Finally, the light was bright enough to illuminate the entire cavern, setting sparkles off of the gold in the center, and emitting a green glow from the walls, where the moss was growing thinly. As Blue looked, he could only describe the cavern as beautiful. Without that light, all he had seen was black walls, with only a hint of color from very few stones, where the magic of the monsters remained in only tiny traces. Now, he could see the full beauty of their habitat, and was glad to see that even monsters had a sense of peace in them.

"I wonder if the dwarves knew about this?" Rouge asked, referring to the color of the walls, "What do you think, bro?"

"I'm not sure. If they did, they didn't like it," Blue replied calmly, and gasped when the light grew brighter still, until it took shape and produced seven large, steel carts. Both Mystics opened their eyes, and Ciato grinned widely at their work. He didn't know just how effective such an old spell could be, but the result obviously pleased him. He looked back at the magicians.

"All right, my darlings. Let's load this shit up," he said. Ildon nodded, and with Blue, walked over to the nearest of the large pile and began filling one cart up. Blue had no idea how they planned to push the carts; they were easily going to weigh twice Blue's weight when they were full, but he didn't question Ildon on that. Mystics had proven more than once that they knew what they were doing. Rouge reluctantly went to help Ciato, who simply beamed when he saw he'd be working with Rouge. Rouge had to work hard to keep his eye from twitching, and ultimately, he ended up warning Ciato not to touch him in any way.

"If you hug me, kiss me, flirt with me, or pet me in any way, you die," Rouge growled, making it very clear that he meant his threat. Ciato simply nodded, agreeing to that entirely. Rouge bent down to scoop up some of the gold and dump it into the cart, and was both relieved and surprised that Ciato made no comments. He felt that was for the better, and so he continued onward, though he noted that Ciato didn't appear to be working. Rouge blinked as he looked at the gold. Why was that? He got his answer later when something pinched him on his backside, and he yelped, throwing the coins up into the air. He turned and glared angrily at Ciato.

"What the hell did I just get through telling you!?" he screamed, causing Ildon and Blue to stop and look over at them, "Keep your disgusting hands off of me!" Ciato just snorted, and Ildon shook his head, unable to decide if he should be surprised or upset in any way.

"Technically, you said I can't hug or pet you," the Mystic replied coolly, "You never said I couldn't pinch you." Rouge's eye twitched furiously, and Blue knew his brother was going to snap. He ran to try and step in, but he was too late. Rouge finally lost it.

"_GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!_" Rouge screamed wildly, his voice reaching a pitch so high, that Blue was sure he'd break down soon, "_STAY AWAY!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!_" His breathing became weak and shallow, and Blue put his hands on his twin's shoulders to try and calm him down. But Ciato was pushing him too far. At that point, Asellus, Lion, White Rose, and Zozma rushed in, all of them wondering what the screaming was about. Ildon simply frowned, knowing he should have nipped the problem in the bud the first time he'd seen it.

"I think you need to leave," Blue said, as Rouge's eyes watered, tears streaming down his cheeks, "My brother told you to leave him alone more than once before. I accept and understand you, but my brother has asked again and again to keep to yourself. Now get out of my sight before I impale you." For once, Ciato frowned, finally realizing that he just terrorized a human, something that was severely against Mystic code. He backed away, and looked at his fellow Mystics, but not one of them seemed to either sympathize or understand what had happened. Asellus looked over at Ildon.

"What happened?" she asked, "What did Ciato do?" Ildon continued to glare angrily at Ciato despite answering the younger Mystic's question.

"Damned idiot was harassing Rouge, that's what happened," he growled. Zozma's eyebrows pinched together in frustration.

"I thought you were in love with Ildon and Rastaban!" he exclaimed toward Ciato, whose face paled, "What, they not good enough for you now!?"

"…Orlouge separated us when he found out I cared about a human," Ciato replied, "I'll be waiting up top, then." With that, leaving the group in utter silence, Ciato walked out of the cavern. Blue blinked, but didn't let go of his trembling twin, who turned and buried his face in Blue's uniform, the tears splashing onto Blue's shoulder. He patted Rouge on the back.

"Will your brother be all right?" Lion asked, truly concerned as she drew her sword, "Want me to murder Ciato for you?" Blue snorted, but Rouge just shook his head. As much as he hated the Mystic, he knew death wouldn't solve anything. He pulled away from Blue slowly and looked at him, sniffling as he dried his cheeks off.

"I'm sorry," he said, "We have a job to do and I'm ruining it."

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Blue asked him, "I'm not risking your life. Not after the first time… not after our battle." Rouge nodded, and smiled.

"I'll be okay. I might need to sit for a few minutes, but we should get moving," he said. Blue nodded, and this time, he worked solo with the Mystics as Rouge sat down to rest for a bit. With five Mystics helping, the job took very little time. Asellus and White Rose were in charge of using magic to push the carts to the entrance, whereas Zozma, Ildon, and Lion would help Blue fill them up. Orlouge was at the entrance, where he used his incredible mental energy to cause the carts to levitate up the hole into the parking lot. Only once did he back up the cargo when he snorted at Rastaban's shrill scream at Ciato for what he did to Rouge. In fact, _everyone_ heard him, and only Rouge didn't find it the least bit funny. He didn't know if his scream was even warranted, but it felt right at the time. Now, he wasn't so sure. As the last cart was sent along the magical track the Mystics set up, Blue walked over and sat down next to his brother. For a moment, he let Rouge continue in the silence, but his instincts told him Rouge needed his help.

"Feeling any better?" he asked gently. Rouge hummed, but didn't respond in any other way. Blue sighed. This was the last thing he ever wanted his brother to feel. He patted Rouge on the shoulder and said, "It'll be okay. I'll make it clear he's to keep away."

"I just don't get it," Rouge replied suddenly, and Blue looked at him critically, "He cares about a human, but he treats _me_ like this. What the hell is going through his head, bro? Why me? Why not the stupid idiot he _does_ like?" Blue bit his lip. He knew what was going through the Mystic's head. He knew it too well. Lion had been the same way when he first met her; the only difference was that she was female, and Ciato was clearly male. He sighed.

"I think… you _are_ that human, Rouge," Blue replied, and when Rouge was about to scream again, he said quickly, "I'm not saying you have to return his feelings, but just think about it." Rouge shook his head violently. There was no way he'd ever accept that, not in a million… no, a _billion_ years! He wasn't…

"I'm not into men!" Rouge screamed, "Blue, just shut up! Just shut up and go away!" He turned away, and Blue sighed. Rouge was going to be touchy on this subject. Blue could understand that, and now he was glad he had been woken up out of his power-crazy past. If he hadn't been here for Rouge, the poor boy would've gone completely insane by now. He just patted his brother's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "I'm going to go and make sure the gold's good. You can stay here if you need to think… but give me a call later, okay? I don't like worrying about you, and I'm really worried." Rouge waved him away, clearly sour with the thought of talking to him anymore. Blue let out another quiet sigh and left Rouge alone. There was no helping him, at least not for now, and sometimes Blue wished Rouge had left him dead in Hell. Maybe Rouge wouldn't have been put in so much danger if Blue hadn't been around.

Rouge didn't know how long he had been down there, but he knew it'd been for quite a while. By the time he even looked up to see the cavern walls, everyone else had left. All that remained aside from himself was the stony silence that emanated from the chamber. There was no gold, and the glowing stones had long faded at that point, the absence of the monsters becoming obvious to the otherwise inanimate objects as the hours passed. Rouge pursed his lips, but didn't feel in the least like moving. He knew as soon as he reached the outside, Ciato would be there. But then again, so would Blue, and Rouge wanted to see his brother. He hadn't meant to drive his own twin away. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, bro," he said to nothing in particular, "I didn't mean to get angry like that." He knew there was no way Blue heard him, but a tiny part of him hoped to hear an 'it's all right' from his brother. It'd comfort him to hear he was forgiven. Surely, he knew he would be, but to hear it would bring welcomed comfort. Even to hear a 'you were immature' would be better than the silence he pushed himself into. He looked up at the ceiling. It offered nothing but the same silence the walls gave him. The air felt thin, something that he didn't expect; he expected tension to wrap itself around him, but Blue seemed to have taken it with him when he left. Rouge shook his head. Why did Blue always feel so responsible?

"Well… at least he can't take responsibility for _my_ actions," Rouge decided, and finally stood up. His legs felt weak from how long he'd been sitting, and he quickly guessed it was much more than the hour he gave himself. Stretching out, he looked around the chamber and truly noticed that the once-soft glow of the walls had definitely faded. He could no longer see the difference between the emeralds or the rubies ingrained into the stone. He squinted his eyes, but that only made the room appear blurry to him. His lips thinned.

"I might as well start going back. I promised Blue I'd call him," Rouge reminded himself, and took out his cell phone. He quickly dialed Blue's number, and faintly smiled when he heard it ring. He just hoped Blue didn't turn off the phone. To his relief, ten rings later, someone picked up.

"Hello?" to his absolute shock, it was Princess Lion. He slowly blinked, and then answered her as calmly as he could.

"Lion, is Blue there?" Personally, he didn't want to think about why Lion had his brother's phone, but she gave an affirmative, and a moment later, he heard Blue's calm voice, bringing with it a wave of strength for Rouge to emerge from the chamber into the dark tunnel.

"Rouge, are you all right?" Blue asked over the phone, and Rouge winced with the knowledge that Blue's worry only increased with the hours, "I've been worried sick, as has everyone else."

"I'm fine, bro. I'm coming up," Rouge replied, and after hearing a sigh of absolute relief on the other end, he quietly asked, "Is Ciato up there, too?"

"…yes," came the reply, and Rouge winced again, "He feels terrible about what happened, too. He said he'll leave if you want. He's waiting by the elevator right now." Rouge paused. Now was the best opportunity to sit Ciato down and truly talk to him about how he was feeling over the attention. The answer was plainly obvious: Rouge didn't appreciate it. But it was also clear Ciato didn't really care. And, there was his final statement; he 'cared for a human' and had been broken away from Ildon and Rastaban for it. Sure, the two Mystics understood their former lover's reasoning, but that still broke most Mystic codes. Orlouge had broken away from Lion when he found out she fell in love with Blue, but he also understood and had softened since his defeat and subsequent revival. Mystics and humans needed to begin to bridge the gaps, and he understood Orlouge was working especially hard to atone his mistake. All of it was clear as a bell. And Blue was ultimately right. Rouge _was_ that human, whether he wanted to admit it or not. But damned be the Mystic, why did he take such pleasure in tormenting Rouge over it? A simple talk would save them both such pain. When Blue asked for Rouge's answer, he knew he was keeping his brother too long.

"Let him stay. I need to talk with him about this," Rouge stated, wincing again at the severity in his own voice, "It's important for both of us." Blue nodded, and after a quick see-you-later, they both hung up, leaving Rouge once again in the light silence of the empty caverns. He breathed deeply. He didn't really want to talk to Ciato, but if the Mystic left feeling as he did, Rouge wouldn't be able to sleep with that either. And over-the-phone conversations were no way to deal with problems. This was the best shot he had. Ciato had clearly understood the consequence for what he continued to do. It'd do him good to feel guilt, but to feel unresolved shame was something Rouge understood all too well; Blue himself had gone through it again and again. To hell if he even put Ciato through that. Slowly, he began his walk through the tunnel, thinking again and again about what he could say to avoid hurting the Mystic further. There really was no easy way to explain it all.

'_Besides, why do I care if I hurt him?_' a tiny voice in his head called, '_He hurt me, didn't he?_' That still didn't make it right. It wasn't entirely Ciato's fault, anyway. Either for his behavior or his sexuality. His behavior was simple; he was just used to getting his own way and being a bitch to getting it. But the latter… what else could he do, now that Rouge thought on it. Orlouge had made it clear all women were his. What was left for Ciato and the other princes? Even humans were essentially forbidden to them, just recently not so much. Rouge's eyes narrowed gently. The more he actually thought of it, the more sense it made. Ciato had no choice but to love men unless he wanted to risk death, and it had to be frustrating as all hell for him. Rouge stopped again.

"Am I… feeling _sorry_ for him?" he asked himself, frowning, "He doesn't need pity, but I… damn it, Blue, why are you always right!?" He didn't expect to hear a chuckle, but he heard it and knew he was too close to the entrance. A moment later, Blue popped his head down the hole in the ceiling, and grinned, waving just slightly.

"I'm older than you, brother," Blue reminded him, just short of being smug, "Of course I know more than you." Rouge's brows pinched together.

"Oh yeah? Well, you're going to grow old first, too!" Rouge shot back, "Which means you'll be dead _long_ before _I_ am!" Blue smiled and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not _that_ much older, Rouge," he said flatly, his voice going gentle again as he asked, "So, are you feeling better? You seem in a much better mood from when I left you." Rouge nodded, and jumped up, catching Blue's arms so he could help Rouge up. With a gentle heft, Rouge was out of the hole, standing in the parking lot. The gold had been safely brought up, something he was glad to see. Asellus, Ildon, White Rose, and Lion were discussing something off to the sides as Orlouge spoke to the dwarves, with Fuse supervising the meeting. Rouge glanced toward the back, and saw that Ciato was there, with Zozma currently trying to drag him forward to face the magicians. Rouge frowned, and Blue crossed his arms as Zozma finally managed to get Ciato over, the latter of whom did _not_ want to be there anymore.

"…" For a moment, the two simply stared at each other, and then, Rouge waved a hand and said, "Hey."

"Hello," Ciato replied calmly, his frown deepening, "I should be on my way." He turned to leave, but Zozma was faster. The red-haired Mystic grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"Whoa, buddy, you ain't leaving yet," he said sternly, "You and this dude need to talk." Ciato threw Zozma an angry, venomous glare, but didn't try to leave again. Zozma did have a point, as much as Ciato hated to admit it. He sighed and turned back to Rouge, who seemed entirely confused as to what Ciato would possibly say to him. He waited patiently, but Ciato didn't speak a single word. Zozma glanced at the white-haired Mystic and asked, "Well? Aren't you going to speak?"

"Some things don't need to be said," was all Ciato replied with, and he turned to leave again. Rouge was surprised to find himself disappointed with the Mystic, and Orlouge looked over with only a slight trace of concern on his face as the dwarf closest to him spoke to Fuse. Blue looked at Rouge quickly, but said nothing, and finally, Rouge himself spoke up. If he had any chance of getting his point across, he'd have to instigate the conversation. He took a deep breath.

"And some things shouldn't be run away from," he called after Ciato, who halted, the mage's words shocking him, "So get your ass back here, Mystic, because we seriously need to set some ground rules." Ciato turned to face him, his already pale skin becoming just a slight tint paler. He slowly returned, and Rouge noticed faintly that much of the conversations toward the others had stopped. He growled; Ciato didn't need any more embarrassment over this. He turned to Blue and asked, "Can you ask if we can have a room to speak in?" Blue nodded, and fifteen minutes later, Rouge sat in a small room with Ciato. Zozma and Blue were there, but only to keep them from killing each other or escaping. Otherwise, they were to remain silent, which was something all were fine with.

"…well?" Ciato asked, when Rouge let the silence continue for just a second too long, "You spoke of rules?" Rouge nodded, his gaze stern and unyielding. Either this would go _his_ was, or not at all. Ciato seemed capable of understanding that.

"First of all, I can accept that you like me," Rouge began, but his tone belied his actual sympathy, "I accept it, but only that. I do not return it…" Blue noted the hesitancy, but Rouge was already continuing on, "You are not to touch me unless I say so, understood?" Ciato nodded, crossing his arms. He seemed to be taking this as seriously as Rouge was, something Zozma jotted down as a mental note for later.

"Understood," Ciato replied, nodding, "What else?"

"I do not appreciate the flirting. You're to stop that as well," Rouge told him, "One slip-up is fine, but don't make a habit of it or you'll be eating Energy Chains for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And trust me, they taste like shit." Ciato snorted. He had never 'tasted' magic before, but he wasn't about to go against Rouge's words. He just nodded, an odd smile on his face.

"Understood again," he replied, and with a smug grin, added, "Darling." Rouge gave him a short glare, but didn't comment on that one. Doing so might only result in more of Ciato's constant rebellion against others' wishes.

"Lastly, if you stalk me, I'm calling the cops," Rouge replied, and that was the one that gave Ciato the most amusement as his slender brows rose to an almost unreal degree.

"Funny. I thought you _were_ a cop," he replied, and Blue gave a small laugh. That was correct, and Rouge's face flushed when he remembered that he _did_ have the authority to arrest Ciato himself. Though, in his mind, he had a feeling Fuse would find a way to let the Mystic free. He quickly shook his head free of the thought.

"I am, but I'll be too pissed off to not kill you," Rouge told him, only a trace of amusement in his voice, "And as much as you offend me, I want justice, not instant death."

"How noble of you," Ciato remarked sarcastically, and Rouge flipped him off before continuing.

"Fall in a ditch, asshole," he grumbled, and at Ciato's grin, said, "Do you agree to my terms? Or should I blow your head off right now?" Ciato's slender brows rose again, truly wondering if Rouge would actually be able to kill him. He doubted the young mage could, but be knew the boy would at least try. He slowly nodded; he didn't _like_ the rules, but he _would_ abide by them. After all, he did have an interest in Rouge.

"I agree," he stated, and both of them stood. Rouge held out his hand, and Ciato instantly replied with a curious look. Obviously, he had never actually shaken hands before. Zozma just snorted; it was one of the few times he had ever seen Ciato not know what to do next. Blue didn't display any sign of noticing the look, but Rouge knew that was more out of politeness. Nothing slipped by Blue completely unnoticed.

"Then so be it," Rouge replied, "Let's shake on it." Ciato blinked, and slowly took Rouge's hand. He gave it a hefty shake, and then smiled genuinely. Rouge raised an eyebrow of his own, and before he could react, Ciato bent down and kissed his hand, and then said, "I'll be off then. Come, Zozma. Let's report back to Orlouge." Zozma snorted and shook his head, and the two Mystics left the room. Blue gave a small chuckle, and then looked at his brother. He could barely contain his laughter when he saw Rouge's face; it was splashed with crimson, and his eyes were dead tiny at that point. If Blue saw a manifestation of complete and utter shock, Rouge would have been it. He gently patted his twin's shoulder.

"Will you make it?" Blue asked, as Rouge's eye twitched. He expected Rouge to scream bloody murder, but no sound emitted from Rouge. He just stared at the closed door, an odd grin frozen on his face. Not because he was particularly happy with Ciato, but because he was too shocked to know how else to react. His eye twitched again, and slowly, stiffly, he turned to his brother.

"I'll be fine as soon as I murder that idiot," he replied, in a calm that was rather eerie to hear in Blue's ears. But he shrugged it off. It would pass as soon as they left the room. He wrapped an arm around Rouge's shoulder and led his twin toward the door, opening it and stepping into the hall.

"Oh, don't murder him yet," Blue joked, "We don't have the authority to actually get away with it." Rouge actually laughed, and Blue was glad to see _something_ could cheer his brother up. They walked down the hall a short distance, passing the receptionist on the way. She gave them a cheery wave, but only Blue returned it. Rouge was too busy considering Blue's words, and when they reached the elevator, he turned to Blue.

"You think Fuse would murder him _for_ me?" he asked, and Blue snorted. That was a likely possibility, if only to give Fuse a reason to use his blaster. He pressed a button on the elevator and shook his head, even though he knew all too well that Fuse could very possibly, very probably, say yes.

"I wouldn't try asking him unless you're prepared to list the pros of breaking all of those laws," Blue told him, "He's not very law-abiding, but he loves to think he is, and whenever you're dealing with Fuse, you need to work with _his_ logic, not your own."

"And his logic is that he's right and everyone else is an idiot," Rouge concluded, and Blue nodded an affirmative to that remark. Both of them laughed, and when the doors slid open, they both walked into the elevator. As the doors slowly slid shut, only one voice could be heard, and its speech made the receptionist raise a critical brow as to their entire conversation. Not that she heard most of it, but she had heard the parts about murder, and this last part made her wonder just who she had been waving at.

"Never hurts to try to ask, right?"

--(End Chapter)

And so, with the gold safely returned, and with Ciato understanding Rouge's rules to etiquette, all seems well and good for our two magicians. But, is that all there is to Baccarat, or is there something more to the casino resort than meets the eye? What of the Mystics in the parking lot, and were the surviving thugs, if any, arrested and thrown in prison? What will happen between Rouge and Ciato now, and will Ciato actually heed any of Rouge's warnings? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	30. A Ripoff of Sonic the Hedgehog

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they can't believe I actually get away with 'defiling' them. I say they need to stop being such wussies.

The elevator was cramped. That was the one thought Rouge had as the elevator slowly rumbled back down to the parking lot level. It was cramped, and it felt like it was taking hours for a task that he felt really should've only taken seconds. Part of him wanted to blame it on the fact that he had to deal with Ciato, but unless he actually _caught_ the Mystic doing something to mess with the elevator, there was no way he could prove it. Besides, he had seen Ciato leave. He sighed, wishing to whatever would listen that the damned contraption would hurry it up. He still had a case to close.

"Maybe you should try some deep breathing to relax yourself," Blue suggested calmly, glancing over to see just how his twin was faring. Rouge didn't know exactly what expression he was wearing, but he hoped it was changing to one of annoyance; he didn't need his brother harping on him just yet.

"I'd rather shoot something," he replied, hoping he was sounding as calm as Blue. Blue just chuckled.

"Wouldn't we all?" he asked, his mouth quirking into a half-smile, "It's a good thing we don't, or we'd be the worst cops ever." Rouge just grunted. As much as Blue was right, Rouge's mood was still dropping. The meeting with Ciato had gone better than he thought, but most of what had been said still bothered him. Mainly, he was worried Ciato would completely ignore everything he'd stated. He certainly didn't trust Mystics and their sense of boundaries.

"Would it be considered bad if I shot a stalker?" Rouge asked, and Blue glanced at him again, "I'm worried about Ciato." Blue's lips thinned. He wasn't too surprised. He looked ahead as the elevator came to a slow stop, and gave a small whistle as he leaned back.

"I don't think you really need to worry," Blue replied, "Ciato listened. I know you're worried he didn't, but he did. I think he gets the picture." Rouge, however, wasn't convinced in the least. He threw his arms up.

"What if he doesn't!?" he cried, as Blue stepped out when the doors finally opened, "What if he's, like, actually really insane and he tries to kill me because he can't deal with my rejection?" Blue just laughed. He didn't know how messed up Ciato actually was, but he highly doubted that would be a scenario; it wouldn't even be a worst-case one. Ciato would never do that to anyone unless it truly benefited him somehow. He was about to say this, but because they had stepped into the parking lot, they were within earshot of Fuse, and because they were _his_ soldiers, he felt a need to pry into their lives. He looked over at them as he jotted down something on a notepad.

"Then I book him for stalking and first-degree murder," the older cop replied simply, "Seeing as how he's still got that theft charge and the double-crossing charges from Orlouge, he's looking at a life sentence. And considering that Mystics can't die, he's going to spend an eternity in jail." Rouge snorted. The thought appealed to him, but in order for it to happen, he had to actually catch Ciato stalking him. And he knew Ciato was smart enough to not let himself get caught. He caught Blue giving him a stern look, and sighed, knowing his brother disapproved of Fuse's idea.

"First of all, Fuse, there's no need to start planning for Ciato's arrest," Blue began flatly, turning to Fuse as he spoke, and then turning back to Rouge, "Second of all, Rouge, you are worrying _way_ too much about this. I know Ciato will listen to you, and we have other things to deal with right now. The most prominent being getting the gold right back to the gnomes." Rouge's lips thinned. He didn't want to admit that Blue was right, but unfortunately, Blue _was_ right. He knew Ciato would heed his words; he was just worrying because he didn't trust him. He gave a stiff nod, and then grinned in an attempt to keep Blue from harping on him.

"Right. I want my reward," he stated, and Blue smacked him over the head.

"That is _not_ why we're in this job!" Blue cried furiously, and looked sharply at Fuse, "Was the gold returned yet!?" Obviously, Rouge's plan was on the verge of a backfire. Fuse blinked, and at first Rouge was sure Blue would be fired for snapping at the older cop, and then Fuse seemed to dismiss it. He nodded.

"Yup. The gold's back and everyone lived happily ever after," Fuse remarked, "Just like a fairy tale, except that instead of cheering peasants, we have monsters that are thrilled to be able to go back home." Blue nodded, wondering just where all the monsters had gone to. He assumed they had returned to their cave while he and Rouge were speaking with Ciato, and a quick confirmation from Fuse told him he was right. Rouge looked around the parking lot, however, and he seemed slightly less enthusiastic than Blue would've thought. In fact, he frowned when he saw that there was only one gnome to greet them. The little man walked over to them, his long beard dragging along the floor as he moved. He stopped a little ways before them and looked up with his little, dark eyes.

"On behalf of everyone at Baccarat, we thank you for finding our gold and stopping the thieves," he said, his voice surprisingly gruff for such a small creature, "Rest assured that your brave deed will not be forgotten for centuries to come!" Blue smiled lightly at that fact, and Rouge just perked a slightly amused, slightly irritated brow.

"What about our reward?" he asked, "We do get paid, right?" Blue nudged him angrily in the ribs.

"Reward won't be needed, sir," Blue said quickly, glaring at Rouge, "The fact that we helped you is good enough for us." Rouge's eyes widened, unable to believe Blue would actually say that. If they continued to go unpaid, they would never pay their debt off. His shock turned into a furious glare as well.

"Are you _kidding_ me!?" he yelled at his brother, "What the hell, Blue!? What about getting _paid_!?" Fuse just snorted, knowing Rouge had a very good point. The old cop went quite a few weeks without getting paid himself, but he seemed content to let the two magicians fight their problem out. The gnome simply seemed confused by what was happening.

"We _will_ get paid! Just stop being greedy!" Blue yelled back, "Not everything is about instant gratification, Rouge!"

"But we need money _now!_" Rouge cried, throwing his arms up. Fuse took in a deep breath, now finally feeling it was time to let his 'fatherly' instincts kick in. He took out his gun and shot into the sky, scaring everyone in the lot and many people within the resort as many heads poked out of various windows, wondering just what was actually going on outside. Blue and Rouge both looked at Fuse with a mix of fright and confusion.

"Both of you shut your traps before I shove my guns so far up your asses, you'll be spitting out _bullets_ for three days!" he threatened, brows creased as he put his gun back in its holster. Blue and Rouge looked at each other, and then at Fuse. They gulped and decided it was best to actually heed their boss's threat, knowing that if Fuse loved anything, it was to shoot things. Fuse turned back to the gnome, whose face went white with the gunshot, and said, "It's our job to help the citizens. Ignore my boys there. They don't realize how unprofessional it is to argue in the middle of a crisis situation." The gnome blink, not entirely certain that this was a crisis situation, but he quickly shook himself out of his fright. He wanted to end this as quickly as possible.

"It's of no problem, my large friend," the gnome spoke calmly, doing his best to keep his voice level, "A reward is indeed in order for you all. Please, come." And so, the gnome began to move toward the elevator. Blue, Rouge, and Fuse followed him in, and it sped up toward the top of the resort, where the gnomes' office stood. It felt like only seconds had passed from the time they were in the lot to when they stepped out of the elevator and into the office. Many gnomes were seated around the circular table, all of them looking to where Blue and the others had entered. Nervously, Rouge glanced around, and was relieved when he saw that most of the gnomes looked relatively calm. One gnome, who sat in a high-backed leather chair, peered out over the group through half-glasses, his black eyes shining as he did so.

"And whom are these humans, Vedna?" he asked the gnome that had brought the group there. Vedna bowed and pointed to each of the three humans.

"These humans are the ones who found our gold for us," he replied carefully, gratefully, "I feel we should honor them with a reward." The gnome in the large chair nodded, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, two more gnomes rushed over to the pile of gold and came back carrying three large, golden coins. They handed them to their boss, who examined them, and then hopped off his chair and waddled over. He went right to Blue, observing the man carefully.

"This, my large friend, is for helping us in our time of need. It gives me great hope for the future of our relationship with humans," the gnome said calmly, handing Blue one of the coins, "May you enlist our aid in the future." Blue nodded, and watched as the gnome repeated this to Rouge, and then to Fuse. They took their coins graciously, and Blue was surprised that he didn't have to scold either of them. After bidding the gnomes farewell, and after the gnomes graciously provided a plane for them to leave with, they stepped into the parking lot once more. Considering the excitement they had gone through for the past day, it felt weird to see it so devoid of people. The only thing in the lot, aside from themselves, was the plane.

"Well, looks like another job well done, if I say so myself!" Fuse exclaimed, strutting proudly toward the plane, "Why, I can't wait to head back and brag to Si…" Fuse's cell phone went off at that second, and he cursed, answering it, "What!? …what? You're serious? Why the hell would he call _us_? It's not a crime! He probably misplaced them all! It's a big castle, it could happen. Fine. _FINE!_ Tell Silence to go screw himself, too! Bye!" Fuse slammed his phone shut, and saw that both Blue and Rouge were staring, wondering what just transpired over the radio. Fuse's anger was apparent, and neither of them wanted to be at the receiving end of it. Quietly, Rouge was the first to speak.

"Are we going back to IRPO?" he asked, even though he knew his answer already. Fuse huffed, and stomped the rest of the way toward the plane.

"No! We're going to Mosperiberg!" he ranted, throwing his arms up, "Apparently, the retarded Mystic there begged Silence to help him, and because Silence hates my damned guts, he puts his stupid, little problems on _me!_ Yeah, well, when I get back, I have a taser just _waiting_ to get shoved up that snotty, little cosplayer's ass!" Rouge's face paled, knowing it was probably a bad idea to ask what was going on, but he really wanted to know just what happened to piss his boss off. Now he knew, and he regretted asking as Fuse continued to shout insults to Silence, not caring if the Mystic could hear them or not. Blue took in a deep breath, knowing his next move could be suicidal.

"Why are we going _there_?" the magician asked, following Fuse's furious pace, "Humans aren't allowed there, are they?" Fuse turned to him sharply, and his glare continued to unnerve the two brothers. He looked ready to hit something, and it was only because he was ranting that he didn't.

"They can go up the mountains surrounding the stupid castle where the idiot Mystic lives, but no one's ever been inside the place," Fuse spat, his face getting red as he explained their situation, "As to why we're going, it's to help this idiot find his missing rings. _Rings!_ We could be having a mass murderer threatening to blow apart Koorong, and we're going to a _castle_ to look for _RINGS!_" Rouge snorted at the prospect of the idea, and gently nudged Blue in the ribs. Blue gave his brother an incredulous look, raising a brow as to what Rouge could possibly find so amusing.

"It sounds like that Sonic the Hedgehog game Red wanted me to play once," he joked, and Blue's eyes narrowed flatly, "Come on! It's funny!"

"It's _stupid!_" Fuse yelled, pounding on the side of the plane, "This is a job for retarded idiot monkeys, and _we_ have to do it! I have half a mind to quit this job, but helping the people means just too much to me." Rouge looked at Blue again, and almost laughed at the dry expression on his twin's face. He could tell Blue wouldn't find him funny, but he spoke anyway.

"It might be better for 'the people' if he quits," he joked, and this time, Blue smacked him over the head again, causing him to fall over. Blue merely shook his head, and entered the plane with Fuse. Rouge sat up dizzily, and glared at the doorway Blue had entered through, and not wanting to let his brother get the last laugh, he said, "_YOU'LL THANK ME WHEN WE'RE NOT DRIVING OFF A CLIFF BECAUSE OF HIM!_" Blue just gave a snort, and Rouge stalked onto the plane, knowing Blue wouldn't believe him.

It had taken hours to get to Mosperiberg, but after finding the correct route and avoiding the Axebeaks that were migrating for the year, they finally found themselves standing outside of the large castle. Unlike Fuse's short reference, the castle was nothing like either brother expected. A large, golden gate surrounded the perimeters, their spiked tips pointing high into the dark sky that seemed to shroud only Mosperiberg itself. The castle was dark and brooding against the snowy mountains, and like the fence, the exterior was criss-crossed with a wall of gold as it snaked its way up toward the upper floors. Only the peaks of the many towers were free of gold, their large points poking through the clouds like giant spears. Rouge gulped as he beheld the huge castle, unable to imagine that only one Mystic could live there alone. Silently, Fuse walked up to the gate, and as the two magicians watched, it became obvious that their boss was also terrified of the sight he saw, because he was shaking as he laid a hand against the gate. The gate slowly opened at his touch, admitting the three into the large palace.

Inside of the castle was an almost vivid contrast to the outdoors as soon as they reached the large foyer of the castle. Outside, though it was stormy, the mountains had illuminated the area somewhat with their snowy cliffs and peaks, and a soft snow had fallen, further casting a white glow around the entire continent. But inside, it was dim. The soft glow of the torches on the wall were reflected only a bit by the golden railings and doors; everything else seemed to be covered with tapestries. The floors were made of marble, but it was as black as the deepest onyx stone and offered no light to them. The carpets adorning these beautiful floors were a deep crimson, further adding to the quiet gloom of the palace. Aside from their muffled footsteps, there was no sound.

"…does anyone actually _live_ here?" Rouge whispered, but even that sounded earth-shattering in such a silent place. He even winced at the sound of his own voice. Blue glanced around the vast room, his lips growing thin as he evaluated everything around him.

"Hard to tell, but this looks even more grand than Orlouge's castle," Blue commented. Fuse silently agreed, but decided it was best not to speak. He located a large, golden staircase, and against the lifeless black of the room, it was startlingly bright. Rouge winced again at the light shining off of the gold as he groped for the railing.

"Whoever lives here must be blind as a Rabbat," he grumbled, "They'd have to be with this abomination sitting right here." Blue managed a chuckle at that, but Fuse still remained silent. Something was wrong with him, something bothering him, but Blue didn't know what it could've been. They walked up the large stairs, and Rouge stopped when they reached the top. Though there was a huge doorway leading to another, darker hallway, he turned and went down a narrow corridor, stopping at a large set of double doors, both made entirely of latticed gold. Raising an interest brow, he touched the handle and said, "I wonder what's in here." He twisted the handle downward, but it refused to budge. He blinked, and looked at the handle. There was no keyhole in the door, but it was clearly locked. Huffing, he pushed harder on the handle, but it didn't move.

"Rouge, maybe you should leave it alone," Blue warned carefully, eyeing the door critically, "You don't know what's in there."

"I know what I'm doing!" Rouge snapped back, until he heard a loud crack. In his hand was now the golden handle of the door; it broke off completely, and his face went practically white. He had just broken the door. Biting his lip as he shoved the handle in his pocket, he said, "Well, nothing to see! Let's go!" He went back to the stairs and turned to walk down them, when Fuse stopped him.

"Whoa, soldier! We still need to know what the hell is wrong with the resident here," he reminded the flustered mage, who grumbled in dismay. He didn't want the Mystic to find out he just broke part of their home. But reluctantly, he followed both Fuse and Blue through the doorway. Crystals hung from the ceiling, casting a softer golden glow around the room. From there, Blue saw that tiny shards of glass were embedded within the floor, and found it to be quite beautiful. A pang of jealousy hit as he remembered how plain his own kingdom looked compared to this. If he and Rouge ever went back, he would definitely bring the Mystics' sense of beauty with him… if they allowed it to be. They walked through the hallway, and found themselves now standing in a large room, a single crimson carpet leading up to a throne made of polished, dark mahogany. Behind that throne sat a wall with latticed gold overlapping the glass covering. And behind that glass was a burning fire; the entire back wall seemed to serve as a fireplace. But what truly caught Blue's attention was the occupant within the throne. Garbed in black robes, with long, dark blue hair and a circlet of gold sitting on their head, the Mystic observed his intruders carefully, almost kindly. But there was something about this Mystic's demeanor that made even Orlouge appear powerless before him.

"Who are you?" the Mystic asked, his voice surprisingly deep. Rouge was shocked to hear it; he had almost mistaken this Mystic for a woman. Blue knelt down, lowering his head as Fuse did the same. Only Rouge remained standing, and his confused expression seemed to amuse the Mystic highly. Another voice sounded just a way behind the throne, and another figure stepped out.

"Relax, Virgil. These are the humans I told you of," that voice belonged to Orlouge, and Rouge's mouth dropped open as he stepped into the light of the fire. Behind him, Ciato stood nearly motionless. Rouge saw his mouth twist into a weak smile when he noticed them there. A shiver ran down the magician's spine, but he said nothing. He had to trust Ciato would listen to him. The Mystic in the throne, Virgil, looked over at Orlouge.

"So I see. I suppose, then, they would like to know why I have summoned them?" he asked, turning his gaze back to the humans. Fuse nodded, standing up and dusting his shirt off.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," he replied, "Seeing as how we have no idea why the hell you called us." Blue growled under his breath, praying no one took offense for Fuse's rudeness, but Virgil just chuckled, and Ciato managed a snort.

"Yes. I suppose that would be a kind gesture indeed," Virgil continued, waving his hand airily, "I have called you because I have lost my rings. A small annoyance to you, but a hindrance to me, and a danger to the land of Margmel." Blue glanced at Rouge worriedly, but Rouge seemed completely perplexed with Virgil's explanation, and Fuse just glanced at Orlouge. The Mystic nodded, silently mouthing to listen to Virgil.

"Why are those rings so important?" Rouge asked, and Virgil looked at him in disbelief, "I'm sorry. I've never heard of such rings."

"Those rings are what keep the land of Margmel running, but they require a strong power in order to keep them alive," Virgil explained calmly, "I was given them by a young monster to protect his homeland, and not wanting to see a world crumble from an abuse of power, I have done so for the last two years. But, they have gone missing now, and if they have been stolen, the land will surely perish, and I will have broken my promise to this boy. I refuse to let both happen, so you must understand my urgency." Blue nodded grimly, understanding perfectly what Virgil meant. He and Rouge had seen a land crumble personally, and it broke both of them when they were forbidden to enter it again. He looked to Rouge, wondering if the younger magician understood the danger Margmel was in, and Rouge inclined his head in agreement to Blue's unspoken question. They were going to help look for the rings.

"Where did you last see these rings?" Blue inquired seriously, both he and Rouge turning back to Virgil. The Mystic tapped his chin in thought for a slow moment.

"I keep them safely in a box in one of my many rooms. I know this room well, and I visit it every morning to make sure the rings are safe," Virgil explained, "But today… they were missing. The last time I had seen them was yesterday morning… if there has been a break-in, a day and a half is more than enough time to run from my domain." Blue frowned at the hopelessness suddenly creeping into Virgil's voice. He seemed completely broken up about what happened, now that Blue thought about it. Most Mystics wouldn't involve humans if they could avoid it; this must be more urgent than just Margmel.

"Do you have any idea who might've taken them?" Fuse asked, looking around the room for any sign of movement. He doubted any thief would be idiotic enough to remain after stealing something so precious, but he also learned there was no need to take risks and overlook things. Virgil shook his head slowly.

"No. None but myself and this monster knows about the rings," he replied carefully, "Well, Orlouge now knows, but he is one of my dearest friends. I do not think he took them." He glanced at the other Mystic as he spoke, and Orlouge nodded, emptying his cloak to show he had nothing of value, save for himself. Rouge looked over at Ciato, raising a flat brow. Blue silently prayed Rouge wouldn't make the suggestion, but to his anguish, Rouge did.

"Did Ciato take them?" he asked, and the Mystic in question glared at him, his normally mischievous posture having been replaced with a grim, unyielding one. Rouge bit his lip, realizing he just made Ciato very, very angry.

"I took nothing since we last spoke," Ciato replied, and though he was furious with Rouge, his voice was calm and assuring, "I have been with my lord since then, Rouge." Rouge hummed, not liking the familiarity Ciato was beginning to adopt with him, but he said nothing on it. Blue glanced around the room again, trying to find anything that would lead to a clue. He knew they had to explore the castle, but the task was daunting; there were so many doors he had seen, he couldn't begin to guess which one was where Virgil kept his rings. That, and they all had been locked. He couldn't assume Virgil trusted them as much as Orlouge did.

"Sir Virgil, we'll need to investigate the room you kept these ring in," Blue stated suddenly, and Virgil gazed at him sternly, his mouth set in a deep frown, "I know, sir, that you wish us not to, but if there's any chance of a clue, we should look into it. And, though slim, it may be possible the thief is still around." Virgil's expression softened at Blue's tone. He considered those words, weighing which would be more prudent: his privacy or trusting them. He glanced to Orlouge, as if asking the man if his judgment was right. Orlouge gave a small smile and nodded, and even Ciato inclined his head to show that the humans were trustworthy. Virgil snorted softly, and turned back to Blue.

"Very well. I grant you access," he replied, "But, you will bring Ciato with you." Fuse just chuckled, and Blue seemed impassive to the decision either way, but Rouge's reaction was strong, something Virgil half-expected. His eyes widened in horror, his mouth dropping open as he looked over at the Mystic in question. Ciato seemed almost as shocked, but he hid it much better than Rouge ever could.

"_WHAT!?_" Rouge screamed, ripping his gaze from Ciato and back to Virgil, "Why!?"

"Because you need a Mystic to safely pass through the barriers I've set up as protection," Virgil replied, unabated with Rouge's outburst, "I will be helping Orlouge scan Fascinaturu for possible culprits. We both feel another Mystic may have done this, and only we have the power to read other Mystics' minds." Rouge grumbled, hating where this was taking him. He didn't want to work with Ciato, not after all of what went on between them. Ciato looked at the ground, his eyes narrowing. He seemed to be having trouble tackling this as well.

"I promise I'll do what I can to help you," he told Rouge, his seriousness catching the magician off guard, "This is a terrible crime against my kind. I don't take it lightly." Rouge didn't doubt that, and reluctantly, he agreed to Virgil's orders. After receiving the key that would open every door in the palace, the four appointed set to work. They began on the first story first, starting with the room Blue had spotted beforehand. It looked like a huge, circular room, like the ones Rouge had seen on the show Steal or No Steal. There were five pedestals, and then a large podium for one person to stand at, with a microphone perched on top. His lips thinned as he turned to Blue.

"Think this is where they film some of our gaming shows?" he asked, half-joking. Blue managed a small smile, but Ciato shook his head, looking up at the monitor mounted on the back wall.

"No. This is part of Virgil's Trials," he replied, and when Rouge gave him a quizzical look, he added, "Virgil originally had _one_ ring, and for the challenger to obtain it, they needed to go through eight trials in order to gain the right to battle him for it. This was one of them." Rouge nodded, somewhat impressed that Virgil would go to such lengths to protect his ring, and that he'd even hold his trials here at all. Fuse ran his finger along the top of one of the pedestals. It had picked up a fine layer of dust when he examined it.

"And it's obvious he hasn't had a trial in a few years," the cop grumbled, showing Blue his finger, "Look at this dust! It's a violation of one of our health codes!" Blue stifled a snort. If that was the _worst_ thing Fuse chanced upon, then it was both a good and bad thing. Good because Virgil was an honest Mystic, and bad because that meant a lack of clues. Ciato hummed as he took a good look around the room, and within a minute, crossed his arms and looked at all three humans seriously.

"It's not in here," he stated grimly, and Rouge perked a skeptical brow.

"How can you tell?" he asked, trying his best not to actually offend the Mystic. Ciato blinked, staring at him intently for just a few second before giving his report. He smiled weakly, gesturing around the entire room with one arm.

"Nothing but dust in here," Ciato told them all, "It smells entirely of dust. I can't smell any ring or disturbance otherwise. That, and if someone were really in here, I don't think the door would've been locked. The thief would've had to keep it unlocked unless it was another Mystic stealing from Virgil." Blue nodded, not finding anything wrong with Ciato's report. Likewise, neither Fuse nor Rouge found a reason to argue, either. Rouge glanced nervously at Blue, and the older magician seemed to guess at what Rouge was wondering.

"Why would another Mystic risk stealing from one of their Lords?" Rouge questioned nervously, his worry evident in his tone. Blue pursed his lips, silently wondering the same thing. He couldn't figure a decent answer except for a possible usurp to Virgil's palace, but as he opened his mouth to suggest it, Ciato was already speaking.

"Exactly. There's very little reason for it," he concluded, "Either we're dealing with a maddened Mystic, or we're dealing with a human. The question is, which one?"

"It'd probably help to get more clues, first of all," Fuse huffed, leaning on one of the pedestals impatiently, "We haven't seen enough to assume what we're dealing with." Ciato snorted and gave Fuse an amused glance, as though he had already considered that and dismissed it. Then he ignored Fuse entirely as he walked out of the room, Rouge running to keep up. Blue looked at Fuse, and nearly laughed at the cop's furious glare toward the Mystic's back, and went to keep an eye on Rouge. Fuse himself just twitched and asked, "Who died and made _you_ leader, boy?" He didn't get a response, and so finally, he left the room as well. He found Ciato opening another door just a bit down the hall, and wandered over just as the key gave a soft _click_. The door swung open to reveal a nearly empty room. It was pitch black; the light had either been destroyed or was shut off. Even Ciato had a hard time seeing through, but he pointed out a small pedestal in the back. Rouge grinned.

"Looks pathetic enough," he commented confidently, and walked inside until he heard a large squishing sound. His mouth thinned as he looked around, but he saw nothing but the vague outlines of his twin, his boss, and Ciato himself. Quietly, he stepped forward, and heard it again. This time he asked, "Who the hell is doing that!?" Ciato and Blue glanced at each other, both shrugging in confusion, and Fuse just placed his hands on his hips impatiently again.

"It wasn't any of us, soldier," he replied, "You sure you ain't going loony on me?"

"I know what I heard," Rouge stated flatly, deciding to just ignore Fuse's comment and continue on toward the pedestal. He heard another sound, and glanced around his shoulder, but again, he saw nothing worth attacking. But, as he took his third step forward, his foot hit something sticky. His eyes widened, and he tried to pry his foot out, but it was stuck to whatever he just stepped in. The squishing sound came back, and this time, Rouge replied with whatever he could muster. A scream. "_WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST STEP IN!?_"

"Rouge, don't panic!" Blue called, as Ciato used his magic to light the single torch aflame, casting the room in a hazy, red glow. There, thirty giant Slimes sat around the pedestal, with one of them pooling out where Rouge had stepped on it. Rouge screamed again, struggling even harder to break free, but the more he tried, the worse his situation became. Blue took out his gun and immediately shot at the slime, but the bullet dissolved in its belly. Slowly, the slimes began to move toward them, and Blue sprung to work. He unleashed an Energy Chain, but one slime deflected it as another surged over, slamming him into the wall. Rouge screamed again, this time bellowing out for an Implosion, but the slime he was stuck to moved out under him, causing him to fall to the floor as another slime spilled on top of him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Fuse was in the process of being hit with solvent. Only Ciato managed to avoid the onslaught. The Mystic looked around worriedly for any sign of a clue, but there was nothing but slime. Slime, and the empty pedestal. He cursed himself for not sensing it sooner.

"_HELP US!_" Rouge tried to scream from under the slime, and Ciato turned to where he heard his voice, "_Help us, you son of a bitch! DO SOMETHING!_" Ciato's eye twitched in anger at the insult, but he began to cast a spell nonetheless. He closed his eyes, focusing all of his power at eliminating all thirty slimes at once, and praying that Orlouge gave him the training he needed, unleashed his spell onto all of the slime. Fire burned everywhere, evaporating the slimy trails left from the monsters. Slime exploded everywhere, coating the walls, the floor, and even parts of the ceiling as Ciato's spell hit every single monster within the room. With one final squishing sound, the very last slime blew up, and Ciato had to duck to avoid being splashed on by its remains. When the fires died down, leaving absolutely nothing but his friends in its wake, Ciato looked around at his handiwork. The slimes were nowhere to be seen. Blue and Fuse were trying to clean the slime off of their shirts. Rouge, however, was fully unconscious at that point. Ciato frowned, and walking over, silently hoped that the monsters hadn't crushed him to death. He bent down, looking over Rouge's pale face with concern.

"Rouge, are you all right?" he asked, as Blue walked over. He turned up to the magician and said, "I'm sorry… I don't think I saved him…" Blue bit his lip. For that second, that one second, Ciato felt terrible for his actions. His wings shook, his eyes threatening to spill tears. But a cough told him Rouge was actually alive.

"Don't cry bucketfuls yet," Rouge croaked, his voice dry from screaming so much, "I'm not dead yet." Ciato's eyes widened, and he wiped the tears away as a grin spread across his face. Rouge perked a brow, and immediately regretted assuring the Mystic of his health as Ciato hugged him tightly, almost mockingly. But Rouge sensed a general feeling of relief, and he knew somewhere, Ciato was genuinely happy. He twitched; every part of him wanted to shove Ciato away, but most parts of him knew he shouldn't just stomp on the Mystic. He sighed.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Ciato asked, letting go, "Any of you? That was a huge spell I unleashed." Rouge nodded in agreement to the spell, looking at the damage Ciato had caused, and Blue simply smiled, tugging his shirt to say that he was perfectly fine. Fuse just laughed as he took out his blaster, until he found he couldn't use it. Ciato managed to destroy it in the inferno.

"We're all fine," the cop grumbled, shoving his blaster back in its holster, "That was insane. Where the hell did you learn that?" Ciato grinned sheepishly, and Rouge had a distinct feeling that it wasn't a spell any of them should've been able to use.

"Well… I kind of ordered it off the internet last month," Ciato began, and all three humans stared in disbelief, "Hey! Don't give me that! If some idiot is willing to sell you a _piece of materia _for diddly-squat, and materia is _non-existent _in this world, what did you think I'd do? _Not_ buy it!?" Rouge let out a snort. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, that was actually very funny. And because it wasn't found anywhere within their borders, it wasn't illegal to purchase. Fuse was obviously having a hard time accepting that, though both Rouge and Blue were sure it was simply because the old cop never thought of it himself. Fuse opened his mouth to yell, and then closed it, knowing that there was no argument. Technically, Ciato didn't break any laws… _this_ time. Instead, he settled on a threat.

"Next time you do anything that drags my ass into your country, I'm taking your materia and setting you on fire," he growled, narrowing his eyes to silently warn Ciato that he was watching him. Ciato just snorted and rolled his eyes. He had faced _dragons_ before; Fuse was nothing compared to them.

"Only if I don't stab you first," he retorted smugly, "I wonder how Orlouge will feel about bloody roses again. Tell me, what color is human blood? Crimson?" Fuse's eyes narrowed flatly, as he was ready to just bash the Mystic on the head with his gun. Blue noticed his hand moving toward his weapon, and quickly decided that they needed to get on with their search before blood was actually shed. He smiled nervously and made Ciato turn to face him, the Mystic wondering just what was making Blue so edgy.

"Investigation, friends! We need to get moving!" Blue exclaimed, his voice holding a mix of cheer and worry, "Ciato, did you sense any magic in here?" Ciato's lips thinned, sweat rolling down his face in response to Blue's sudden change of subject. Stiffly, the Mystic shook his head.

"No, not in here," he replied carefully, "But I did sense it out near the hallway. At the time, I didn't know what room it was coming from, so I didn't think of it until I saw nothing in _here_." Rouge grumbled in annoyance, wishing Ciato had said _something_ about what he thought. Even if he hated the Mystic, he appreciated his help.

"Would've been nice if you told us this before we came in here," Rouge replied, and Ciato shrugged, "Well, maybe the feeling will come back. Let's go and see." No one had any objections to that, so quickly, they left the room and went back into the hallway. Ciato stopped for a moment, and looked critically at all of the doors on the first floor. Blue and Rouge watched in silent anticipation, wondering just what Ciato was looking for. Suddenly, Ciato strode over to a door all the way on the left side of the hall, and put a hand on the handle, his eyes glowing for a few seconds. He turned to Blue and nodded.

"In here," he replied, "I feel something in here. This is the room." Blue nodded, and beckoned for both Fuse and Rouge to come over. They did, and all four looked at the door, wondering just who should open it. In but a few moments, they would find something to help them solve this case and save Margmel. Rouge glanced at Blue.

"Who opens it?" he asked. Blue didn't answer. He was trying to decide that in his mind, but anything could've been behind that door, and he didn't want a repeat of what happened with the slimes. Taking a deep breath, he came to an idea, simple as it was. He looked at everyone assembled, hoping they'd agree with him.

"We all do. On the count of three… one… two…"

--(End Chapter)

And so, after closing the Baccarat case and flying to Mosperiberg to help Virgil, it looks like our favorite cops will be adding another case to their closed files soon. But, is Ciato's sixth sense really that reliable? Hasn't he screwed our heroes over enough as it is? What is his secret motive for helping them? And, who stole the rings from Virgil? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	31. Bolted Doors and Really Bad Deals

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they hate the Final Fantasy references. Unless they want to sue the greatest SGF writer they have, they need to shut up.

"_THREE!_" Rouge yelled, finishing Blue's sentence for him. All four of them grabbed the handle of the door Ciato pointed out, and pulled as hard as they could. They pulled until their knuckles turned white, and Ciato's wings threatened to break off from the effort. They pulled until they were sure their arms would pop off. And only when they all fell backwards did they stop. The door didn't even budge. Rouge scrambled up, dusting his shirt off and glaring at the door. By all rights, it really should've opened; they used enough force to pull a regular door right off its hinges.

"What the hell!?" Rouge exclaimed, throwing his arms up, "Why won't this piece of shit open!?" He kicked at the door, and instantly regretted it as his foot connected with a loud bang. He jerked back, hopping about as he held his injured foot, and he silently swore he heard something crack. Blue frowned, wondering just why it wouldn't open, either. He turned to Ciato, who landed upside-down, on his wings.

"Did you sense any seals on that door?" he asked, raising a brow as he rubbed the back of his head. Ciato rolled over, his armor clanking on the floor. Aside from whatever was _inside_ of the room, he hadn't sensed anything at all. He shook his head.

"Nothing of the sort," he replied, and Blue frowned again, "What could it have been?" Unfortunately, neither Blue nor Ciato had any clues as to why they couldn't get in. If it wasn't magic, what could it have been? Also unfortunately, Rouge was unwilling to use logic to think the situation through as he stomped on the ground with his injured foot, wincing at the pain.

"Who cares why it won't open!?" he cried, "Point is, we have to get in there and some idiot is making it impossible! Now excuse me!" He pushed past Blue as he stormed back up to the door, rolling up his sleeves. He grinned psychotically as he rubbed his fists together. Blue didn't like that look. He'd only seen it on Rouge's face once before: they had been five years old, and old Mrs. Delores had told them that some trees contained things like money and jewels, but only if they were opened up. Immediately following that, Rouge went into her backyard and gave that exact grin to the lone tree before setting it on fire, only to find that absolutely nothing had been inside the tree, and that if he didn't run away as fast as possible, Mrs. Delores would kill him if she caught him. He never went to her house again after that. Blue didn't even want to know where this would be leading, but fearing the absolute worst, he had to ask anyway.

"Rouge, what are you doing?" Blue asked warily, eyeing his twin with suspicion. He didn't want to see Virgil's reaction if his castle was sent screaming into a roaring inferno.

"I'm going to blow this door apart, even if it takes a _million_ Vermillion Sands!" Rouge declared, his grin growing. Fists clenched, he closed his eyes and muttered a few words no one could comprehend. Then, he opened his eyes and shouted, "_VERMILLION SAND!_" One lone, orange stone tapped the door with a weak thunk, but nothing else happened. Rouge's eye twitched as Ciato laughed.

"Are you sure one million will be enough?" the Mystic asked smugly, crossing his arms, "Because, by the looks of it, you'll need much more than that to even _dent_ the door, much less open it." Rouge growled. If he didn't think it'd result in him getting killed in some way, whatever distant, he'd have gone over and punched Ciato in the head. But he couldn't, and so he didn't. Instead, he glared at the blonde Mystic.

"_GO FALL IN A DITCH AND DIE!_" he screeched, and when Ciato laughed again, he said, "I don't see _you_ opening the door!" Ciato's laughter died down only slightly as he stood up, straightening his cloak as he walked up to the door. Rouge just stepped back, intent on watching whatever Ciato _would_ try fail. But as Ciato closed his eyes and held out his hand, Rouge was in for a shocking surprise. At first, a tiny, blue glow emitted from the Mystic's palm. Then, it slowly grew, until he stepped back and let loose a roar that was so might, so terrifying, so recognizable to anyone who watched cartoons, that Rouge swore in other world, someone had actually died just hearing such a blood-curdling call.

"_KAMEHAMEHA_!" Ciato screamed, and unleashed a massive beam of light straight at the door. It exploded upon impact, the blast causing such an aftershock that the entire castle shook, the ceiling threatening to crash right onto their heads. Only when the explosion died down, and when Ciato lowered his arm, did Rouge's mouth drop open, unable to believe the sheer force he just witnessed.

"Where the hell did you _learn_ that!?" he asked in complete disbelief. Never mind for now that the door was completely unharmed; whatever Ciato did, it was absolutely amazing. And most probably illegal, too. And, when Ciato finally stopped grinning enough to answer, Rouge found he was right.

"Again, my friend, the internet is an amazing thing," the Mystic replied calmly, his grin broken only a little, "I tell you, those Saiyans are willing to do _anything_ to make a few credits. Offer ten, and they practically _give_ you all their cruddy, little superpowers." Of all the words he could've used to describe such a terrible detonation, 'cruddy' and 'little' had never occurred to Rouge. What also never occurred to Rouge was that even with the destructive blow, it didn't do a thing to remove the door.

"It's just too bad those powers don't open golden doors," Blue stated flatly. Rouge turned again, and his eyes widened. If he hadn't been so blindsided by the explosion, his mouth would've dropped as well. But in Mosperiburg, he never knew what to actually expect with any given attack. He certainly never expected a door to be so hard to destroy.

"What is with this Goddess-damned door!?" Rouge demanded, eye twitching, "Seriously, we've tried _magic_, _might_, and even a fucking _Kamehameha_, and absolutely _nothing_ works! What the hell!?" Ciato watched Rouge scream and slander the door for reasons the door couldn't control, all the while looking around toward Blue, who was currently trying to figure a way into the room, and then toward Fuse, who seemed to be trying to sharpen something into a point. Finally, the Mystic cleared his throat, and Rouge stopped screaming. His throat was hurting, and hurt only more as he asked, "What is it!?"

"Did it ever occur to anyone that we might need to actually unlock the door?" Ciato asked, "Preferably with a key?" Rouge stared at Ciato as though the Mystic went completely insane. That answer was beyond simple. There was just one problem. He didn't remember Virgil ever giving any of them a key. And if Ciato had one, he really should've used it by now. He _promised_ to help them.

"We don't _have_ a key!" Rouge cried, finally deciding to just let exhaustion get the better of him as he knelt onto the floor, absolutely worn out. This task should've been simple, but it was proving quickly to being one of the most daunting responsibilities he'd been forced with. He _hated _it. Fuse stopped sharpening the object in his hand and finally decided to join in the fun of opening the door. He held up his trusted item.

"Relax, soldiers. We don't need a key," he replied gruffly, "I sharpened this thing. I'll break that damn lock and make it wish it had never been welded!" Rouge seriously doubted the old cop could do that, but he wasn't about to stop anyone from opening the door. Tiredly, he stumbled over to Blue, leaning on the older mage for support. Blue seemed highly amused with Fuse's attempt as he patted Rouge's back.

"That looks like a stick," he commented, referring to Fuse's precious lock-pick, "Please tell me he's not using a stick to unlock the door."

"All right. Pretend it's a sword, then," Ciato replied, crossing his arms as he watched Fuse try and jam the stick between the two doors, "A really flimsy sword that can't do anything." Blue chuckled, and nodded a silent agreement. Rouge was too tired to do much of anything except watch. Fuse finally managed to slip the wood between the small crack and was currently trying to wedge the doors apart like a crowbar. It wasn't working.

"I failed at workshop, but I don't think he's using it right," Rouge commented quietly. Blue snorted, patting his brother's head as he heard Fuse curse angrily. He had twisted his stick so badly that it snapped in two, one half still wedged in between the doors. Ciato was clearly trying his best not to just burst out laughing, but it was all he could do to not even comment on it. To Blue, it was just another Fuse moment. Fuse twitched as he threw his half of the stick on the ground.

"Damn Mystics don't make doors like they used to, _that's_ for sure," the cop grumbled, getting out his blaster, "Back in _my_ days, doors used to be so poorly constructed that a stray _whiff of something_ would knock it down! It's a sad, sad day when a makeshift crowbar can't do a damn." Blue eyed the blaster suspiciously, wondering just what Fuse would be going for. He no sooner had his answer until Fuse grinned, setting his blaster onto full power. The gold reflected the purple light coming off of the gun, and the sheer amount of heat coming off of Fuse's weapon began melting a small hole in one of the golden frames. Blue's eyes widened, and as he screamed, both he and Rouge rushed to stop the mad cop.

"Whoa, hold on a second!" Blue cried, grabbing the blaster out of Fuse's hand as Rouge said, "Boss, what the hell are you doing!?"

"I'm breaking down this damn door even if it kills me!" Fuse exclaimed, as though the answer were obvious. In his mind, it was, "There's some asshole in there who needs a big, ol' helping of justice, and I sure don't want him escaping from a side dish of prison, either!" Blue just shut off the blaster and gave Fuse a very flat look, as though Fuse were a complete idiot for even thinking he could get away with _destroying Virgil's door_. And, in _Blue's_ mind, Fuse was. Not to mention the fact that he just came close to breaking a law. Deciding to use that logic to stop him for good, Blue just grinned.

"You know, for someone who likes to serve up justice, you came really close to breaking a law yourself," Blue stated smugly, and Rouge raised a slender brow in question, "You almost _vandalized_ someone's property, Fuse. That's at least a year in prison, and a good chance of being _fired_." Unfortunately, any logical footing he hoped to gain was lost instantly. Fuse took out his badge and flashed it, for just a second.

"I don't count, boy. I'm a cop," Fuse replied sternly, "If Virgil's going to make doors that are impossible to open, I'm going to take my grandpa's advice and _blow_ my way inside, even if it means I might kill the culprit. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Blue's eyes narrowed, wondering just what jury would ever approve of that. Ciato just snorted, deciding wisely that he wouldn't comment on just what he was feeling. Rouge, as usual, was the most expressive with how he felt. He gave Fuse such a confounded look, one that expressed such complete and utter bewilderment, Fuse almost mistook him for a retarded idiot child.

"Boss… what the hell did your grandpa _do_?" he asked suspiciously, "Was he a bomber or something!?" Fuse's brows creased, and for a second, Rouge was sure he offended the older cop. But that second vanished as Fuse broke into an easy grin, shaking his head.

"Nah, that was my dad," the cop replied proudly, "My grandfather was an arsonist. Damn good at the job, too. You know _he_ was the one who set Trinity on fire fifty years ago?" Blue's eyes widened as Rouge's mouth dropped. Of everything Fuse could've been proud of in his life, living among _criminals_ shouldn't have been one of them. But then again, Fuse wasn't exactly a good cop, either. Blue couldn't tell what shocked him more: Fuse's upbringing or the fact that he really _was_ proud of it.

"Sir… I really am not sure that's something you should be telling us," Blue stated, sweat rolling down his head in nervousness, "We _are_ cops, after all." Fuse hummed for a second, considering Blue's words. Logically, the magician had a point, but Fuse couldn't actually see the problem. After all, he loved his family, and if anyone else had a problem with it, all the more power to them if they felt a need to _tell_ him about it. He just snorted softly.

"Then it's a good thing they're both dead," he replied, grinning, "None of you wiseasses can arrest them, if that's what you're getting at." Blue just sighed, hanging his head. Fuse was missing the point. Rouge just made the gesture that Fuse was insane, and silently, Blue had to chuckle at that. They both agreed on the notion. Ciato had looked over, and it was his grunt of disapproval that caught the twins' attention. In particular, Rouge looked over, tilting his head curiously. He half-expected a wise remark from the Mystic, but instead, Ciato looked particularly annoyed now.

"You okay?" Rouge asked worriedly, and Ciato glanced at him. He nodded grimly, but crossed his arms as he hovered in the air.

"Yes, but something in there is starting to irritate me, and the fact that you can't get us inside is just making my mood worse," he stated, though despite being annoyed, he was calm, "I really want to know what's in there." Rouge nodded. For once, he actually agreed with Ciato on that note. He turned back to the door.

"Sorry," he replied genuinely, "This next attempt won't fail." Blue looked over at Rouge with slight skepticism. If a spell, a wedge, and a Kamehameha didn't even dent the door, he really wanted to know just what Rouge thought possibly could.

"What are you planning?" he asked gently. Rouge bit his lip. He didn't actually know yet, but he knew he had to try something. He knew Ciato's gut instinct was only growing stronger, and he knew that the thief had to be in there. Even if Ciato was a bastard, he had never been wrong. He didn't answer Blue. As he considered his options, he decided to see if he could manipulate the lock with a Shadow Servant spell. If his shadow could slip inside, he could unlock the door for them in there. It was a good plan, but required a lot of focus. Silently, praying that Blue wouldn't take offense, Rouge closed his eyes and focused on weaving his magic around his shadow. He could feel sparks of life flying into his shadow, but right as he was about to unleash one piece of the complicated spell, Fuse spoke up again.

"Whoa, hold on, soldiers!" he cried, making Rouge silently curse at him, "We don't need magic. I just remembered I had a key in my pocket the whole time!" Rouge's eyes flew open. In a creepy unison move, he, Blue, and Ciato all glared at Fuse at the same time, eyes hardened in both rage and disbelief. Fuse just laughed as though it were the funniest thing in the world as he said, "Look here, boys! We've been destroying Virgil's property and I had this key the entire time!"

"Are you _serious_!?" Rouge screamed, eye twitching, "We wasted our energy and you could've opened the door at _any_ time?" Fuse blinked, looking at the key before he looked at Rouge. He walked over to the door, and nodded as he put the key into the keyhole.

"Yup," he replied simply, turning the key. He heard a faint click, and the door slowly opened. Rouge felt his blood pressure rise. Even if they were able to get in, the fact that their boss just wasted countless seconds of time and bundles of energy, and _didn't seem to care about it_ really made him mad. They could've killed themselves trying to open that damn door, and Fuse might have just laughed and walked on. Or ranted about how 'back in his day,' policemen didn't let a little thing like a locked door kill them. Either one would've made Rouge want to rip his hair out. When the door fully opened, Fuse just walked right in without even waiting for Rouge, or anyone else, to tell him off for his carelessness regarding the key. Obviously, he didn't see the problem with it, even if it cost his _best men_ some of their mental stamina. Only when he poked his head out and asked, "Aren't you boys coming?" did Rouge finally snap. He lunged for the older cop.

"_ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?_" he roared, "We just learned what a _fucking dumbass you are and you EXPECT US TO FOLLOW YOU!? JUST LIKE THAT!?_" Though his voice echoed down the hall and around the large chamber, most probably alerting the thief himself of their presence, Fuse seemed completely unperturbed by the volume of Rouge's screams of fury. In fact, he looked _annoyed_ with Rouge as his brows creased, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yes, I do," Fuse said sternly, as Blue caught up to his twin, restraining him as he looked at Fuse with worry, "I'm your boss, and if you don't follow orders, I'll have to fire you. Now come on or I'm writing you up for insubordination." Rouge's mouth dropped as Fuse said this. Then the old cop just turned and walked into the room as if nothing had happened at all. Blue glanced from the empty doorway down to his twin, who looked ready to blow up his own blood vessels. He turned to Ciato, who seemed relatively neutral on the subject as he simply watched them all.

"Do you want to head in and h… ACK!" Blue was nearly knocked away as Rouge lost his temper again, struggling against his brother in order to get to Fuse and strangle him. But, Blue was far stronger than Rouge anticipated. He couldn't break free.

"_LET GO OF ME!_" he roared again, eye twitching, "_One shot, Blue. JUST ONE SHOT OF ENERGY CHAIN!_" Blue grunted as he tried to hold Rouge in place. Even if he was the stronger twin, Rouge was still a formidable challenge. And he _definitely_ wanted to kill Fuse for the key. Ciato even came over to help Blue, and both of them were successful in keeping Rouge from advancing, even if he threw them looks of hatred and doom as they did so. Eventually, Blue took a deep breath and tried to speak, hoping to calm Rouge down.

"Rouge, stop it!" he cried in exasperation, as Rouge continued to struggle, "You can't just kill him!" Unfortunately, that seemed to simply enrage Rouge further. He tried to push Blue away, but when he couldn't, he simply glared again, his eyes starting to turn red with fury.

"I deserve it for all of this time!" he growled. And while Blue was inclined to agree, murder was still wrong, and they were still cops. Rouge would still be jailed and most probably executed as well. And as much as Blue and Rouge fought, Blue loved his brother. He couldn't let that happen, no matter how insane Rouge became.

"Rouge, I am _not_ letting you do a stupid thing like that," he replied flatly, though he knew that in Rouge's raging stupor, he was most probably ignored. Rouge tried struggling again, and Blue looked over at Ciato again, who had nearly fallen over when Rouge almost elbowed him in the face. He asked, "Can you please do something so I can go in and do my job?" Ciato gave him a disbelieving stare. Considering what had happened previously, Ciato was the _worst person_ to ask for this, but it was clear not even Blue was calming Rouge down. And if _one_ of them didn't show up soon, _both_ of them would be fired. Blue _had_ to go in to save their jobs. Ciato just nodded.

"I'll do my best," he said with uncertainty, as Blue saluted and ran into the room. Rouge growled again, hoping Blue would come back with Fuse's head, but when Blue didn't reappear, Rouge tried to lunge into the room again. Ciato grabbed him, trying to keep him from making the biggest mistake in his life. Rouge glared back at the Mystic.

"_LET GO!_" he roared, but not because of Ciato. He just wanted to go in and murder his boss and regain his sanity. Ciato, poor Ciato, just shook his head.

"I can't do that," he said quickly, his wings shaking, "Please, just calm down before…" Ciato winced as he heard a loud roar coming from inside of the room. It wasn't the roar of a monster, like a chimera or a griffon. No, this was a roar of powerful magic. It hurt his ears to hear, and it made his wings tremble in agony as he listened to it. He felt Rouge shaking beside him, and heard the human screaming from the shock of such a roar. He looked over and tried to calm Rouge down, but the magic was too much for him.

"Stop the noise… _stop the noise!!!_" Rouge begged of the Mystic, not caring that Ciato couldn't do anything. Rouge clawed, trying to get inside the room to either get to Blue or to stop the magic, but Ciato had to calm him down. Anything else could really do some horrible mental damage. Finally, Ciato knew if he didn't do something, Rouge would kill _himself_ if the roar didn't die. He held Rouge close, covering the agonized human's ears and protecting him from the aftershock with his wings. It hurt his head to be fully exposed to such a powerful thunder, but it was better than forcing Rouge to listen. Whatever was in there, whatever was happening, it was clearly too much for the magician. Everything combined was probably too much, and this was all Ciato could do just to keep him alive. Finally, slowly, the noise died down. Ciato's wings stopped shaking, and eventually, Rouge stopped cowering and looked up at the Mystic, his eyes watered. He couldn't understand what happened; all he knew was that he had gotten so angry, his sight went red. Ciato looked down at him gently.

"Are you all right?" he asked with concern clear in his voice. Rouge nodded, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked through the doorway. He couldn't see anything inside. It was too dark.

"Yeah…" he said, though his voice was distant, "…thanks. For helping me." Ciato just nodded, looking away.

"Least I could do to help," the Mystic replied casually. Then they looked at each other for a moment. Neither spoke, neither knowing what to say. But then they both seemed to remember that they still had to help Blue and Fuse, both of whom had been too close to the blast for their comfort. Rouge laughed, walking to the doorway.

"We'd better get in there, eh?" he asked good-naturedly, but Ciato clearly heard the nervousness in the younger man's voice. He simply nodded, however. He knew much better than to argue. They walked in through the door, and Rouge immediately swung his head around to see the room. If magic had been used in there, there was no sign of it. Sure, it was dark, but that was because the torches weren't lit. Other than that, it was in perfect condition. From what Rouge could see, at the very least, the stained glass windows were intact. Blue was just a little to his left, and he practically hugged the older mage when he saw him, exclaiming, "Thank the goddesses you're alive, bro!" Even Ciato gave a weak smile, though his eyebrow did rise as he recalled the terrible roar they had just heard.

"Wait… if you're alive… what sort of spell was used?" the Mystic asked, slightly bewildered, "Clearly, we heard a huge roar of power." Unfortunately, Blue didn't appear to know what he was talking about. At least, not until he actually considered what was said. _He_ hadn't heard a roar, but he was also caught in the spell's range. He guessed that anyone who was too far away could _hear_ the spell, whereas they might not be able to _see_ it. He chuckled, patting Rouge's head.

"Oh, that? That was just the Time Lord using Overdrive," Blue replied simply, almost amused, "Seems our genius of a boss decided to get into a fight with the poor guy." Ciato's eyes widened. The _Time Lord_ was _here_!? He wasn't exactly a Mystic overlord, but he was a damned powerful Mystic regardless. Why was he here? And, more importantly…

"Why the hell was that cop picking a fight with the _Time Lord_!?" Ciato demanded, almost exasperated with the news. Insulting a Mystic was bad and stupid enough. Actually assaulting one usually resulted in death. And, if not death, then severe injury to all involved, aside from the Mystic himself. Blue hung his head, blue streaks of embarrassment spreading across them. For him, there was never really a way to explain most, if not all, of Fuse's decisions. At least, never a way that made any sense to anyone other than Fuse.

"Apparently, the Time Lord didn't drop his weapon in time," Blue replied in almost a mocking voice, "Not that he needed to, because he _wasn't trying_ to kill us, but you know Fuse. He goes all out and maverick on any poor civilian that breaks any rule, no matter how small." Ciato just nodded, but he couldn't even believe Fuse would seriously be that stupid. They were lucky the Time Lord didn't use anything that sped their speed up so quickly that they melted. Rouge was still too shocked about the culprit being the Time Lord to listen to why Fuse did something so rash. He looked at his brother with just a hint of confusion in his face.

"…didn't you _kill_ the Time Lord?" he whispered. Blue bit his lip, trying not to laugh; the situation wasn't funny, but he actually managed to spare the Mystic and strike up a deal. Unfortunately, Ciato didn't know that. He turned sharply to Blue, his normally golden eyes glowering with red.

"_YOU DID WHAT!?_" the Mystic screamed, his wings stiffening. Blue actually backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. Technically, he only hit the Time Lord twice with his sword, and only used a wickedly powerful bout of Mega Wind Blast before the Mystic saw the error of denying him his magic.

"Hey, I didn't kill him," Blue said quickly, as Ciato's eye twitched, "I spared him! I gave him a little boo-boo and then we made friends! Honest!" Ciato didn't appear to calm down, though. Even if Blue didn't kill the Time Lord, he still assaulted the guy, and that had to be paid for. And the Mystics' favorite form of human currency _was_ blood. Asellus was proof of that one. But before Ciato could draw his blade to kill, Rouge managed to put two and two together. He gasped, looking at Blue in awe.

"You _bribed_ him!?" Rouge asked. Blue just grinned nervously, and both Rouge and Ciato knew that 'bribe' was too generous. Even Blue had his moments of absolute vileness, especially if it came to learning magic. Rouge asked, "What did you do!?" when Blue didn't answer. Blue just laughed.

"I… _might_ have blackmailed him," the blonde magician replied, and yelped as Ciato swung his sword at the man, "Hey, would you rather I _killed_ him!? Besides, it worked for both of us." Ciato's rage lessened only slightly. Blue had a point; a shaken Mystic was still much more useful than a dead one. Letting out a deep sigh, Ciato put his sword away.

"What exactly did you two agree on?" he asked suspiciously. Rouge looked over at his brother. The sheepish expression, which Blue wore only three times that Rouge could remember, was priceless. It _had_ to have been absolutely ridiculous on the Time Lord's part.

"Well…" Blue bit his lip, "You know how there's rumor of this thing being built to take us to other worlds?" Ciato raised a brow and nodded. He'd heard vague mentions of such a thing; some sort of traveler's stop from some other-worldly race that'd allow them to jump all over the galaxy for a decent price. He didn't believe any of what he'd heard. He snorted.

"Don't tell me that idiot gave you his magic just so he could go world-hopping," Ciato said flatly. Unfortunately, Blue nodded. That was _exactly_ what had happened. Ciato's eye twitched, and turning toward the large chamber, he shouted, "_TIME LORD, GET YOUR AGELESS ASS OVER HERE!_" Never mind that the Time Lord was far older than even Orlouge. Never mind that Ciato was just a _baby_ compared to him. He had agreed to the stupidest deal ever, and Ciato planned to tell him so. The Time Lord looked over, apparently dazed from the fact that he had to use Overdrive, but it didn't lessen the fury scribbled on Ciato's face. Wondering just why such a young Mystic would be yelling, the Time Lord walked over.

"What is it?" he asked, just slightly annoyed that anyone would have the insolence to yell at him, "Can you not see I'm trying to recover from _fighting a Human_?" Sadly, Ciato didn't care a damn about that. He could've wiped out an entire _region_ of humans without breaking a sweat if he wanted. The only thing that stopped him was that the last time he did so, he spent nearly thirty years in jail before Zozma came to bail him out. And he was absolutely sure that if it happened again, Zozma would take _even longer_ just to _piss him off_. So, he didn't say anything about it.

"Is it really true you took a deal for world-hopping if you gave this _human magician_ your magic?" Ciato asked instead, his voice becoming flat again. He still couldn't believe the Time Lord would do anything like that, but he didn't think Blue was lying, either. Besides, he didn't actually know how smart the Time Lord was, anyway. To his dismay, the Time Lord nodded, breaking into a smug grin.

"It's a good deal, isn't it?" he asked, not noticing Ciato's eye twitch, "I mean, at first, I didn't actually believe a silly race like _Esper_ actually existed, but I was _wrong_! Why, three of them actually visited me just to _confirm_ that the deal was legitimate!" Ciato raised a brow. He had only seen one Esper before, and it looked like a giant, black dragon. And he'd been to the Time Lord's realm. There was no room for _one_ dragon, let alone three.

"Right. What did these '_Espers_' look like?" he asked suspiciously. The Time Lord's grin didn't fade. Obviously, he was proud to tell the tale of how he actually saw this other-worldly new race. Mainly because he was probably the only one aside IRPO who _knew_ of them.

"Well, one of them was a really stern, young woman with black hair. I think she was the leader, but she didn't really say anything. She mostly let her two friends do the talking," he explained, "The second one had really wild white hair, and he was dressed like a human, stupid as that is. He had this silly necklace on, and it kept glowing, too. The third Esper looked insane. His eye kept twitching when the leader tried to speak. And he wore so much leather armor! It looked so unsafe! Oh, and that horrible scar. I'm sure he was the warrior of the three just for the scar alone!" Ciato's lips thinned. He didn't personally know what Espers _should_ have looked like, but he was sure it wasn't that. He was sure they just screwed the Time Lord even more than Blue had. And while part of him wanted to just leave it at that, he knew Virgil would be absolutely outraged when he found out. He sighed.

"Time Lord, I don't think they were Espers," he stated, trying to remain calm, "I think you were screwed into Oblivion." The Time Lord, however, just shook his head and produced a white card. It wasn't a badge, but it did have the words 'Esper Sentinel Brigade' on it. Ciato took the card and stared at it. If that was the Time Lord's only proof, the Time Lord was stupider than he originally thought. Ciato said, "This doesn't prove anything."

"But it has the word 'Esper' on it! It _has_ to be true!" the Time Lord cried, and Rouge had to hide a laugh. That was the worst reasoning he had ever heard, even when dealing with Fuse himself. And it was Fuse that Ciato finally turned to, annoyed as he was. Fuse was from IRPO after all. Fuse would know if the deal was true.

"Tell me it's false," Ciato grumbled to the old cop. But to his dismay, Fuse shook his head, crossing his arms. He winced as his hand rubbed up against a bruise on his forearm.

"It's true. I've seen some of the Espers working on it," he replied seriously, "Nice bunch of assholes, too. I never saw the three you just mentioned, though. They might be new recruits." Ciato found that just a bit too convenient. But the Time Lord wasn't even bothered at the prospect of having been conned out of his power. In fact, his grin actually _grew_ with Fuse's words.

"That's what I thought, too!" the old Mystic exclaimed, clapping his hands together, "At first, I thought the third one was just some hooligan who wanted to make some trouble, but when he gave me that nice card, I _knew_ he was telling the truth! Why, how can you doubt anything that's _written on a card_!?" Rouge was finally laughing. He wanted to tell the poor Mystic that half the stuff on the internet and half the books in the world were completely false, but he didn't know if the old Mystic would listen, or even understand that. He tried to glance at Fuse, thinking that maybe his boss would try to right the Mystic's obviously skewed vision of the world. But as usual, Fuse just made it worse.

"I know! I mean, if it wasn't true, we'd be booking them for false advertising," Fuse agreed, "And that could get them put away for a real long time. I don't think anyone would ever risk that." It looked like Fuse didn't believe in media scandals, either. Rouge just snorted, and Blue hung his head, having absolutely no idea how he was supposed to respond. Clearly, that card wasn't the most trustworthy source in the world. But how could he tell that to two _idiots_? The answer was, he couldn't. Not unless he wanted an argument. And, he didn't want an argument. Instead, he decided to look at the problem that _led_ them to the Time Lord. And that was the missing rings.

"Espers and bad deals aside, Time Lord, why did you steal Virgil's rings?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow, "You weren't trying to get your power back, were you?" The Time Lord blinked slowly, turning to Blue for the first time. The perplexed expression told the human that the Time Lord didn't recognize him, and he felt that was just as well. Even if he took the Time Lord's magic away, the Mystic still had the ability to use the spells he had learned.

"No, of course not," he replied calmly, almost questioningly, "Who are you again? Are you the repairman I called last week?" Rouge laughed again, patting Blue on the back. Not only was the Time Lord _retarded_, he was also old as hell, possibly suffering through _dementia_. Blue opened his mouth to reply, but Ciato, who was still furious with the fact that a Mystic was actually _screwed out of a deal by a HUMAN_, managed to get the word in first.

"No, he's the idiot who conned you right out of your magic," Ciato replied flatly, and waved a hand, "But obviously you don't remember, so moving along. The rings. Why'd you steal them?" The Time Lord just tilted his head, and Ciato felt he was ready to blow. The poor, old Mystic actually had to _think_ to remember why he stole from one of the most powerful Mystics in existence. Silently, Ciato wondered if they could let him off on a psychopath defense. Then, the Time Lord snapped his fingers, causing everyone except Fuse to jump with the loud crack it made.

"I got it!" he declared proudly, "I remember now! I think I saw this blue critter making off with them after I took 'em! Of course, I was lying down, and I don't remember why I was in here, but I saw him! I think he was a hedgehog!" Blue was sure that if Rouge didn't control himself, he'd die of laughter soon enough. Ciato just slapped his palm against his face in disbelief. For all of his life, he _revered_ the Time Lord and looked up to him as the perfect example of evil power. And now, he saw that clearly, his idol was a demented moron. If only he could go back in time and warn himself of that fact.

"That's Sonic the Hedgehog, you nimrod," Ciato grumbled, shaking his head, "Chances are, you were dreaming. Now stop being silly and start answering! Why did you take Virgil's rings!?" He half-expected the Time Lord to start rambling again, but to his surprise, the Mystic's ears seemed to perk up at Virgil's name. Obviously, the name caused a few wires to connect.

"Virgil! I haven't seen him in _years!_ Or… is it centuries now? I don't remember," the Time Lord said, grinning again, "But, my word! He's still alive? How _is_ he? Does he still like Earl Grey Tea?" Rouge finally managed to get his laughter down to simple snorting, but Ciato's face went nearly red. He was about to reach his limits of patience, if he ever had any to begin with. He had considered ripping his own hair out to distract himself from the horror that was the Time Lord's IQ, but he refrained. He loved his hair too much.

"Yes, he's still alive!" Ciato cried in exasperation, knowing that his blood would boil soon, "And he's pissed off! You _stole_ his rings, you stupid git! Now tell us why or I'm going to murder you!" Obviously, Ciato forgot that Fuse was still there, and it was Fuse's shoes tapping against the ground that made him turn toward the calm, slightly irritated cop. Fuse had his hand on his blaster.

"Watch your mouth, boy," the cop warned flatly, "Murder's against the law, and I know my boys will be pissed as all hell at seeing you again. So do us a favor and don't commit it." That caused the poor Mystic to snap. Ciato's eye twitched, and he grumbled incoherent words at the cop. Rouge backed away, terrified that the Mystic might actually hurt someone, but the Time Lord directed everyone's attention again. Unsurprisingly, all of them hoped it was something important; anything less might actually push Ciato right over the edge.

"Oh, yeah, now I remember!" Time Lord exclaimed, snapping again, "My clock was broken! I needed to fix it!" Rouge stared at the old Mystic in disbelief. _That_ was why he was inadvertently _threatening_ another world? Because of a _broken clock!?_ Rouge didn't know the Time Lord, other than what Blue had mentioned, but this was one of the last things he'd ever have expected to face. Even _retarded idiot monkeys_ didn't resort to something so illogical!

"And why would you think the rings would help you?" Blue asked, being the only one who remained the least bit sane with the answer. Fuse looked up at him, and a scowl spread across his face. Apparently, only catching the criminal was enough for him; they didn't need to know why he did something, just the fact that he _did_ it. At least, that's what Fuse wanted to think.

"Why do we care? We have a confession and that's good enough for me," the cop stated, taking out his all-too familiar pair of handcuffs. Blue stared at his boss flatly. To him, the reason was just as important as the act. But, then again, Blue was much smarter than Fuse apparently was. Blue understood morals. Just as Fuse was about to latch one cuff on the Time Lord, the old Mystic backed away, shaking his head.

"Hey, just hold the phone for a minute!" he cried, eyes widened with terror, "You don't even know _my_ side of this story!"

"Then enlighten us, old-timer," Ciato grumbled, though he personally didn't care as to what possible tale the Time Lord would use to explain himself. The Time Lord nodded firmly, and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest. Blue joined him for the sake of making him feel as though he were being listened to, but both Rouge and Fuse remained standing. Ciato just hovered in the air, a flat expression seeming to be permanently carved onto his pale face. The Time Lord took a deep breath to psych himself up.

"Okay, well, four days ago, my clock started to crack and sand started to spill out. Because my world _depends on time_ in order to live, I had to get it fixed. I called Virgil because he's the only one who can get Gozarus to give me a Sand Vessel," the Time Lord began, "Well, he told me that going to Facinaturu wasn't even possible. Apparently, some asshole named Orlouge is busy trying to open some stupid resort up for _humans_ and he won't let any business ship out until he has some stuff sorted out. At the time, I thought Virgil was just being difficult."

"So you just came here and stole the rings," Rouge finished. Like Ciato, his voice had gone rather flat with disbelief. Though he _could_ see the Time Lord's point, stealing the rings that stabilized Margmel was a really stupid thing to do. The Time Lord just nodded, smiling as though that were the smartest idea he could've come up with. Damned idiot.

"I figured that I'll see how _he_ likes his world being threatened for once," the old Mystic replied, grinning in that too-dumb way of his. Ciato just snorted in amusement. He detested the intelligence level that the Time Lord was displaying, but he did love the fact that the old fool was trying to annoy the crap out of someone much stronger than him. Rouge took the short story in stride, turning it over as he considered just what to do about it. But his mind couldn't begin to guess what could've been right. Eventually, he turned to Blue.

"What do we do about this, bro?" he asked, as Blue shrugged, getting up off the floor. To Blue, there really was only one logical thing to do: Explain the situation to Virgil and see what he could do to help.

"I think we'd better talk to Virgil before we just arrest the Time Lord," Blue stated, his voice carrying more authority than he intended, "Maybe we can reach a compromise that makes sense for all of us." Rouge smiled brightly, and Ciato just nodded. Fuse seemed to be the only one to dislike that solution as he threw the cuffs onto the ground.

"Aww, come on! That's not the fun way!" he whined. But it did little to get the sympathy from anyone else in that room. Rouge just stared at him as though he had said the most moronic thing he could've heard.

"Boss, here's the deal. Either we speak to Virgil, or Ciato kills us because you're turning our job into a circus freak show!" the flustered mage declared. Fuse just blinked slowly, considering the option. He _really_ wanted to arrest the Time Lord, but he didn't want to die, either. After a brief debate, in which he told himself that if he lived, he could serve up more justice, he ultimately agreed that they should see Virgil. Reluctantly, he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, let's go see Virgil. Then we can wrap up this case."

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, it looks like the culprit of the missing Rings has been found! It's just too bad Fuse can't make the arrest. After finding out that the Time Lord is not only in a lot of trouble with his own realm, but that he's also a complete, incompetent moron, Blue, Rouge, and their friends now need to consult Virgil about getting a Sand Vessel to fix Time Lord's clock. Will the Mystic be able to help them, or will they need to do one more tiny favor for the magic-using race? Find out next time, so click that Review button!


	32. Into Fascinaturu, the land of Idiots

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and I want to know if they've ever made a SaGa Frontier 3. I'd play it.

Getting back up to the long hallway that sat outside of Virgil's room had taken so much longer than anyone wanted. The Time Lord contented himself by spinning tales about the fantastic dreams he had whenever he did sleep, and as much as Blue wanted the old fool to be happy, it was distracting everyone. Sometimes, he wouldn't take a step until he finished one very long narrative. And, when that happened, no one could move him. He refused to let them. Hell, it'd taken nearly half an hour just to get to the _door_ that led to the entrance hall! And yet he was _still talking_ even as they were trying to get the door to open. If he weren't so old and so powerful, Blue was sure Fuse would club him with his blaster.

"_SHUT UP ALREADY!_" Rouge finally yelled, as the Time Lord began to talk about how he went cruising down a big river called the Amazon. Ciato just snorted as he walked ahead, but the Time Lord turned back to him. Clearly, he wasn't used to being screamed at.

"Son, it's rude to just interrupt people," he stated sternly, and shook his head as Fuse pushed open the large, golden door, "I tell you, these young people don't know what a lick of respect is." Still shaking his head with disapproval, he walked through the doorway, with Fuse next to him, patting him on the shoulder. Never mind the fact that, not even half an hour ago, he wanted to arrest the guy for no reason.

"I know. I've tried teaching them, but I guess morality just goes out the window with kids these days," Fuse said sadly. Rouge growled under his breath, his eyes narrowing with annoyance. If there was any indication that Fuse was getting on in the years, it was that he was agreeing with a man who was _thousands of years old_. Or maybe he'd gone crazy during his years at IRPO. Except that there were times his judgment was on the mark.

The entrance hall was as they had left it: dark and brooding. The flickering of torches had decreased a good deal, and it was up to the tiny twinkling of white gems in the floor to provide the light needed to see. As they all came up, Blue winced at the sounds they created. Their footsteps echoed amazingly around the large chamber, and the golden stairs didn't muffle the sound one bit. It was little wonder the place hadn't been broken into much; Virgil could be _dead_ and still hear those footfalls.

"Okay, so what's our game plan?" Rouge inquired, as he, Blue, and Ciato ascended the first step, Fuse and the Time Lord just a bit ahead of them, "You distract him from the front as I stab him from behind?" Blue just snorted softly. That was a plan best left to someone far stupider than them. It'd never work.

"You know, talking is usually effective," Ciato pointed out flatly, "We might be non-humans, but we're not uncivil. I'm sure once you tell him how Dumbass McIdiot up there royally screwed himself, he'll be more than willing to help you. Either by granting you passage to our world or by killing the Time Lord himself." Rouge couldn't help but chuckle at that. As rude as Ciato was, he _was_ funny. Sometimes, and only so much so. The Time Lord turned back to them, and Rouge abruptly ceased his laughter. He was sure he heard Ciato snickering, but the Mystic hadn't moved.

"You guys call me?" the old Mystic asked. Rouge wanted to protest, but Ciato clamped his hand over the human's mouth and shook his head, smiling nervously at the Time Lord. Even if he was old, he still knew what an insult was. And he still had the power to speed up a human aging process to the point of combusting said human. To Ciato, losing Rouge… or himself, for that matter, really wasn't worth the risk.

"We said nothing!" he called, even as Rouge tried to mumble over his hand, "We were just saying… how… how nothing could kill you! It's amazing, really!" Blue gave a flat glance Ciato's way. That sounded too fake. Not even children would've accepted that answer. But again, the Time Lord surprised them. He just grinned, nodding his head as he looked in front of him, so he didn't wind up falling down the stairs.

"That's right. I'm immortal, and if anyone does try to kill me, they get a mouthful of Overdrive!" he exclaimed proudly. Ciato had to resist the urge to stab him in the back. It brought up equally bad memories of when he stabbed Asellus. All to see if Orlouge's plan worked. And now… he was actually feeling guilty. He never did get to apologize to her, even when she let him live. But it did teach him where to stab in order to kill in one blow. That was a useful skill. But its usefulness was for elsewhere.

"Well, you won't be immortal if your clock's broken, so less talking, more moving," the younger Mystic snapped, frustrated with his inability to fix the situation, in his own way. The Time Lord just snorted, and dropped the subject at that. Ciato let him get just a few feet ahead before releasing Rouge. The young mage stumbled a bit, coughing. He wasn't used to being shut up forcefully. Fuse glanced back for a split second, raising a concerned brow as his gaze landed on Rouge.

"You okay, soldier?" the old cop asked. Rouge nodded, his nose wrinkling.

"Perfectly fine, boss," he replied, and then turned sharply to Ciato, "What the hell was _that_ for!?" Ciato looked down at him with amusement. Was he seriously questioning why _Ciato,_ a _Mystic Prince_, just _saved his damn life_!? It almost made the Mystic laugh.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you wanted to die," he joked, and Blue just chuckled. Rouge growled under his breath, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they continued up the golden steps. At the top, their footsteps seemed to be muffled. That was definitely strange; they practically roared off the walls before. Rouge silently wondered if this was Virgil's doing. If it was, neither Ciato, Fuse, nor the Time Lord noticed. But Blue sensed the difference. He glanced at his twin, and just as though they were thinking the exact same thing, they both stopped. The other three kept walking.

"You sense that, as well?" Blue whispered. Rouge glanced from left to right, to see if anyone was listening, and nodded.

"Yeah. What do you think it is?" Rouge asked. It didn't _smell_ like magic, but something was going on. Just the thought of complete silence, in such a huge hall, sent shivers up their spines. Blue, being slightly older, did his best to remain calm. But the sense of danger didn't leave him. That, he had no idea how to control.

"I don't know, but let's not stay to find out," he suggested firmly. Rouge didn't argue. They sprinted through the hall, quickly catching up to their group. Ciato looked at them both questioningly, but he didn't speak. Likewise, neither Fuse nor the Time Lord seemed to even notice they had left for the moment. Silently, warily, they walked through the long hallway, back to Virgil's chamber. The large fireplace behind the throne sent waves of warmth through the huge room, which wafted into just a little bit of the hallway. Blue and Rouge welcomed the warmth happily. After spending so much time in the lower rooms, being near a fire made them feel alive.

"Dear lord, I haven't been here in ages!" the Time Lord said, looking around the room with awe, "Virgil, my friend, you've outdone yourself again!" Rouge was particularly disturbed, because the Time Lord had obviously been in the castle. But he didn't point that out. It was pretty obvious the Time Lord was missing a few rings… so to speak. Virgil rose from his seat and smiled warmly at the old Mystic. Likewise, Orlouge just chuckled.

"It's good to see you, Time Lord," Orlouge stated, his tone warm, "How long has it been now? Four hundred years?" The Time Lord looked over at Orlouge and practically beamed. Blue was sure the poor man's face would physically split open if it didn't cease.

"Orlouge!? You're here too?" the Time Lord exclaimed, "How goes the collection of women you're working on?" Everyone, even Ciato, glanced at Orlouge as the Time Lord asked this. Despite being the biggest womanizer in the entire universe, Orlouge's face went crimson. It was either a sensitive subject, or it was going poorly. Rouge didn't want to know which it was.

"Most of them… ah… ran away," Orlouge replied simply, and then grew infinitely more serious, "But we have pressing business, friend. Virgil's rings are missing, and we must find them. Margmel is falling apart as we speak." Blue and Rouge exchanged glances again. Neither really wanted to get the Time Lord into trouble, but the Mystic in question opened his mouth to speak. It looked like he was going to do their job for them.

"Oh, those? I took them," he replied easily, as though it were no big matter. Orlouge gasped, and Virgil looked momentarily stunned by the declaration. The other four didn't seem the least bit surprised, though. After all, the Time Lord confessed to them, as loose as his ramblings were. Virgil recovered, and coughed just once to clear his throat. Obviously, the Time Lord was the last person he'd suspect.

"Time Lord, why did you take them?" Virgil asked gently, not wanting to scare the old fool, "Were you mad at me?" The Time Lord looked from Orlouge to Virgil. Then, slowly, he nodded.

"Yup. You wouldn't let me go to Fascinaturu and get a Sand Vessel," he replied, brows furrowing as he recalled the exact words spoken. Everyone else could only guess as to what actually happened, though. "You said that I couldn't _just go because I wanted to_." Both Orlouge and Virgil blinked, wondering just why that'd make the Time Lord mad. Technically, it was against the rules to illegally travel through the regions if you didn't need to. Even if you did, it was still wrong.

"Time Lord, with all do respects, you told me you wanted to go to _Disney World_," Virgil stated, and Rouge actually laughed, "You kept talking about this magical mouse who could fix anything. Never once did you state you needed a Sand Vessel." Blue's eyes simply widened in disbelief. What was he supposed to actually believe here? The Time Lord, however, didn't believe a word of it. Even if it was the truth.

"Well, now I need one. So, I took your stupid rings until you said I could go," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms. Virgil just blinked slowly, wondering if dementia had finally settled in on the old man. Fuse just looked over, his lips thinning.

"You know, blackmail's against the law," Fuse reminded him, "I could throw you in jail for that one." The Time Lord would've laughed if he were any younger. But, with living for so long, came a certain adamancy that laughter just couldn't compete with. The old Mystic just huffed and turned away.

"Well, leaving my clock to spill out is also against the law! _My_ law!" he exclaimed, and threw his arms up, "I spent a million years trying to perfect the art of this stupid substance you humans call _TIME_. And what do I get? Nothing! So I need a Sand Vessel. A tiny, _little_ Sand Vessel! I'm a billion years old at this point! When do I get to have what _I_ want?" Rouge had never seen an old man throwing a temper tantrum, but he was pretty sure that the Time Lord was succeeding in it. Ciato didn't try to hide his laughter, even as Orlouge nudged him hard in the ribs. It was almost sad, really. Here, this ancient of a Mystic was standing, and no one was taking the poor guy seriously. That was, until Virgil's smile disappeared entirely. The mention of the Time Lord's clock wiped it out of existence.

"…your clock is broken?" he asked softly, his voice almost too low to hear, "Again?" The Time Lord's face softened at his friend's voice, and he nodded.

"Broken like the glass Princess Rei used to sleep in," he replied, and Rouge couldn't help but snort when he heard Orlouge issue a furious growl. Virgil ignored the reference. The Time Lord's clock shouldn't have broken by any standard. It had already been repaired with the Sand Vessel once before. Gozarus would be furious to have to make another one. He'd just have to deal. Without time, the entire world would collapse. Virgil let out a sigh.

"We have no choice then. We need to get to Fascinaturu," he stated, and sat back in his throne, "All of you, come here." Rouge looked up at the Mystic curiously. He had never traveled by Mystic magic before. And while he'd heard rumors about it, he hadn't really wanted to. But Blue walked up to the Mystic with little to no hesitancy, so Rouge followed.

"Are you going with us?" he asked, as Virgil tilted his head just slightly, an amused smile forming across his lips. Virgil shifted in his seat slightly, and then shook his head. A quiet, gentle laugh escaped him.

"No, child, I'm not going," Virgil replied, clearly amused with Rouge's question, "I must stay here and protect my castle. Orlouge, however, will accompany you." Everyone stared at Orlouge again. He was still pretty flustered with the Time Lord, but he nodded and joined them all before Virgil. Likewise, the Time Lord beamed when he saw Orlouge step next to him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Fuse beat him to it. Not that Fuse actually asked what the Time Lord was planning; Fuse just happened to be a faster speaker.

"Hold on, there, buddy. Your magic's illegal," Fuse reminded Virgil carefully. Virgil let out a sigh, but his smile remained. He must've expected this. And he responded at first by waving the question away. When he gave no further explanation, Blue turned to Fuse. The cop looked tense. What was he expecting Virgil to do?

"Sir, I really don't think this should count as breaking a law," Blue said slowly, and Fuse turned to him, "We're saving another world. No, we're saving _two_ worlds by doing this. Is it really illegal when we're helping others?" Fuse twitched inwardly. Blue caught him at a legal conundrum; all laws had exceptions, sometimes. But Magic was a different story. Magic could backfire. Magic could kill people. But magic _would_ save two worlds. It was a difficult call to make. Finally, though, he caved. And it was much to Blue's surprise. He hadn't expected to actually win against Fuse's logic.

"It is, but I'll let this slide," the older cop said, taking out a radio, "I'm going to inform Silence so they don't tag us." Blue just nodded, and Fuse turned to speak into the radio. Orlouge and Virgil discussed something briefly, in the language of the Mystics. And while Blue _knew_ what they were saying, he found himself listening to Fuse. The call was quick, and calm. Silence must've already known this. Fuse hung up just as Virgil turned to all of them again. Orlouge once again took his place beside the Time Lord.

"All right, passage is good," Fuse told them all, giving the thumbs-up, "For once, Silence wasn't being a difficult bastard. Fire away, Virgil!" Blue just shook his head in disapproval. Once, just once, he hoped Virgil would take offense and actually kill Fuse. But Virgil was too kind for that. He smiled again and nodded.

"Very well. All of you, stand together. Don't stray from my view," Virgil instructed, and raised his hands. He began to chant in the Mystic language, and Blue felt something in his stomach bubble. The vibration grew with each word spoken, and slowly, he could see small lights pulsing in and out of his view. He remembered this all too clearly; he himself used this method when he had to battle the Time Lord. Rouge, unfortunately, was new to this. He gripped his brother's hand, his own shaking in terror as the chanting grew in volume, without actually growing any louder. The fire behind Virgil roared up, and soon, all anyone could see was black. It was the black of the void. And only Blue, Orlouge, and the Time Lord knew what it truly was.

It had only lasted a few seconds, but that was enough for Rouge to know he hated Mystic teleportation. Nothing had come to harm them, but the void was so deep, so vast, that it made Rouge sick to think about. He had never been there, not even when he was in Hell with Blue. But it was more than enough. And, he had a feeling that the Time Lord hadn't been conned as much as he thought. Whatever that place was, it was real. It wasn't outer space, but it was _real_. And now it was gone. They now stood on a cliff overlooking the vast ocean that surrounded the large world of Fascinaturu. The ground beneath them was cobbled slightly, and around them swam a miniature ocean of beautiful flowers. Their aromas were rich.

"Where are we?" Blue asked, looking around. Though in the distance, he saw the glow of candlelight from one of the houses of Rootville. It was just getting to be evening out. Ciato took one glance and shrugged.

"Outskirts of the village, by my guess," he replied simply, "My lord, why would Virgil aim here?" Orlouge looked over the vast ocean, and Blue saw that there was something different in his eyes. The magician guessed Orlouge hadn't come out this way very much. He guessed that Orlouge rarely went _anywhere_ anymore.

"The view is splendid," he whispered, and then coughed, "Hmm… Virgil? Well, Ciato, this place is relatively secluded. None know that I've yet left my castle. He didn't want to arouse suspicion." That was a decent move on Virgil's part. The less commotion there was, the better for all of them. Orlouge turned toward the city, trying to figure out just how to go about this. He quickly realized one problem with Virgil's idea; in order to get _into_ his castle, he'd have to _go through_ Rootville. And if no one saw him, or Ciato, leave or enter, that could be a problem. His lips pursed.

"What's the problem?" Rouge asked, raising an eyebrow when they didn't move for some time, "We _are_ in Fascinaturu, aren't we?"

"Yes, but how are we going to get in to find Gozarus?" Orlouge countered, and when Rouge gave him a quizzical glance, he said, "If I were to show up, there'd be a full-bred panic. I'm this world's _lord_. I don't normally just show up unless something is really wrong." Blue hummed. That _was_ a problem, especially since they'd just have to sneak him out again. And leaving him here wasn't good, either. If someone found him, they might question him. And Blue wasn't sure what form of lie Orlouge was capable of. Not to mention leaving him there was rude.

"So we need to sneak you inside the castle…" he began slowly, doubtfully, "Ciato, what if you fly him up? Can you do that?" He turned to the white-haired Mystic as he spoke, and the look he received was enough to freeze the blood in his veins. Ciato just stared at him as though that were the stupidest idea to ever be spoken out of a moving mouth. Rouge would've thought it was funny, except that Ciato was staring at Blue.

"Fly him up!? Are you crazy!?" Ciato demanded in exasperation, and with his hand, waved toward the castle that loomed in the far distance, "I can't fly _there_! I can barely climb the damn stairs let alone carry another Mystic up there with me!" Rouge felt an odd wave of sympathy for Ciato, and patted his back. Ciato just grumbled and crossed his arms, and Blue hummed again, his lips thinning. He'd have to find another plan. He wondered if using the Hide Rune would work. He suggested it, but the Time Lord simply shook his head.

"Most magic doesn't work on Mystics, boy. That won't do a damn," he said gruffly. Blue sighed tiredly. None of his ideas were being taken well, but he didn't see anyone else coming up with ideas, either. Fuse tapped the butt of his blaster, and Blue glanced over. The old cop was deep in thought, and finally, he snapped his fingers. His brain came up with a plan so simple, so used, so well-orchestrated, that he was surprised he hadn't thought of it sooner. He grinned as everyone looked at him curiously.

"What if we use a disguise?" Fuse suggested. Rouge was about to just protest, but then he stopped himself. That theoretically could work. But they _needed_ a disguise before just going for the idea. And, they didn't exactly have one. Which was bad.

"There's a tailor in Rootville. Surely he can help us!" Orlouge declared, but his confidence in that wasn't nearly as strong as his voice. And his voice sounded concerned at best. Blue didn't blame him. If this failed, he'd be the center of attention, and he stated clearly he'd been trying to quietly step away from that. Besides, Rouge was already trampling that idea flat.

"No offense, sir, but I think we'd be better off wrapping you up in a garbage bag," he stated, and explained, "See, if we're going to sneak you in, you can't wear Mystic clothing. It's common sense. People will see you and think you just went out shopping. Then they'd come over to see what it was you bought." That seemed logical enough. At least, it was enough to convince Orlouge. Obviously, neither Rouge nor Orlouge knew much about being sneaky. Most of the time, it never mattered what you wore if you did it right.

"Then what do you suggest?" Ciato asked calmly, looking down at the young mage curiously. The answer should've been obvious. And Ciato regretted asking when he heard it.

"A human disguise," Rouge replied, and Ciato winced at the mere thought, "Hear me out. If we dress Orlouge up like a human, no one's going to recognize him. They'll think he's our cousin. Then we can come and go, and Orlouge won't need to worry about attracting attention." Ciato didn't like it, but he forced himself to consider the idea, strange as it was. It was a pretty decent suggestion. But he couldn't bring himself, or his master, to degrade themselves by wearing human clothing. It was unheard of in Fascinaturu! Even Asellus no longer wore human cloth. But, to Ciato's extreme surprise, he heard Orlouge agreeing with the plan.

"It is a sound one," he said slowly, purposefully, "And I say we use it. Yes… it will be hard to recognize me. But it is doable."

"Sir, how can you say this!?" Ciato demanded, eyes widened in horror. He might've considered Rouge's idea, but he still hated it. Orlouge just cast him a gentle smile, one a parent would give to a rebellious child.

"How can I not? The boy is right," Orlouge told him sternly, and then somberly said, "But we must find a disguise first. Fuse, you are human, and you are older than either of your men. How do we go about this?" Fuse just grumbled. He didn't particularly like being called old, but it was true. He was getting into his forties. He took a deep breath. Personally, he'd never done an undercover job. But Silence had, and Silence usually pulled them off with gusto. Which wasn't too hard, since the guy didn't talk.

"Well…" Fuse began, but couldn't get too far before they all heard a chuckle from somewhere around them. Rouge smelled a faint tint of alcohol, and he noticed at once that Ciato's eyes locked on a tree behind him. Rouge turned. Up in one sturdy branch sat a red-haired Mystic in leather armor. His mouth split in an impossibly wide grin. Ciato seemed absolutely pissed to see him, too.

"Howdy, folks! Did I hear anyone say disguise?" the red-haired Mystic asked, hopping out of the tree, landing next to Ciato with a soft thud. He put an arm on the annoyed Mystic's shoulder; Ciato immediately shoved him away.

"Zozma, how dare you butt in like this!" he snapped, hand laying on the hilt of his sword, "I should kill you again! Go away!" Zozma didn't heed any of Ciato's words. The poor Mystic would've been better off speaking to a deaf person.

"Relax, pal o' mine. I heard Lord Orlouge here needs himself a disguise," Zozma said coolly, taking out a suitcase that he, through some magical means, kept inside of his pocket, "So I came to offer my services!" He popped the locks open, and the case opened up to reveal many different pieces of clothing throughout history, from knights' armor to modern-day wear. Rouge was impressed. Ciato was not.

"No service you offer is any good, so get lost!" Ciato screamed, eye twitching. Blue snorted; that reminded him of how Rouge would react. And obviously, Rouge saw it too. Except he looked very disturbed by it. He must've felt very guilty for screaming at Ciato so much in the past. Zozma again ignored Ciato, and turned to Orlouge, who was looking over the clothing very carefully. He actually seemed interested.

"Well, good lord of mine?" Zozma asked, grinning again, "You accept?" Orlouge continued to look at the clothes, even as he answered.

"As much as it pains me, I do," he replied kindly, "Make it so that no one, aside from any of us, can recognize me. I cannot be seen." Zozma blinked, his brow arching in amusement. He hadn't expected to have to _make_ Orlouge's costume. But then he shrugged. It would've been fun to do so! Picking up a random handkerchief he had packed, Zozma immediately went to work.

When Rouge and Blue first moved and started living outside of the Magic Kingdom, Rouge had always been so sure that he and Blue were the freakiest-looking people in the entire universe. He had never expected anyone, save for _maybe_ a Mystic or two, to look funnier than they ever did, in their magician robes and sandals. But whatever Zozma had in mind for Orlouge, well, that just topped the creepy cake on any freak festival. Never in his life had he seen such a crappy assortment of clothing. A long, blue bubble-jacket was worn over a shabby, white shirt and a pair of cut-off jeans shorts. Rainbow-colored stockings covered the bottom half of Orlouge's legs, coming to a stop above two black army boots. Fingerless brown gloves adorned the lord's hands, and a hair net had been fastened to keep his long, purple hair in check. And, to top it off, an old baseball cap sat on his head. He looked, in short, homeless. Rouge didn't know just how they were going to pull him off as being a cousin of theirs, but it _would_ make him unrecognizable. Or a laughingstock. Either one was a pretty good possibility right then; he looked absolutely ridiculous!

"I'm done!" Zozma exclaimed proudly, putting his make-up away. He had used blush to make it look like Orlouge had fallen into some dirt. And it worked perfectly with the lord's attire. He looked filthy.

"What the hell have you done with him!?" Ciato demanded angrily, his brows creased sharply in irritation, "He looks disgusting! No fit Mystic would ever walk around in such… such… such _garbage!_" Zozma wasn't offended by the remark, which was what Ciato went for. He crossed his arms and leaned on his suitcase in amusement, a grin spreading across to both his cheeks.

"That's the point," he stated simply, snorting, "No one will ever suspect Orlouge is wandering around like a commoner."

"It's perfect!" Orlouge exclaimed, looking at his reflecting in a small lake, "I may look bedraggled, but I fit the bill of being in disguise! Come, my friends. Let's find this Sand Vessel!" Rouge raised a brow as he watched Orlouge lead them out through the outskirts of town, toward the square. He couldn't see how or why Orlouge was managing to accept this, but he was just fine with it. He must've really wanted that Sand Vessel. As usual, the square of the town was silent. There were no Mystics walking through, sitting on benches, or tending the flowers there. Just the dark cobble and the bright flowers to greet the team stood there. They passed without a word. Then, out of nowhere, a figure emerged from under a gnarled tree. He looked pale in the moonlight.

"Halt! Homeless men have no place in Fascinaturu!" he said, and Blue remembered him as Ildon, "State your business!"

"We're here to get a sand vessel, asshole," Ciato replied, grinning, "Move." But, Ildon didn't move. He just shook his head, and pointed to Orlouge. In his mind, it was a homeless bum.

"I've stated that no homeless men have business here. See him out immediately!" Ildon commanded again, this time even less willing to listen than before. Ciato didn't move. No one made a move to follow Ildon's command. And now, the green-haired Mystic was getting really annoyed. His eyes narrowed and he said, "I shall get lord Orlouge at once!" But for all the authority his voice held, Zozma fell to the floor, laughing at him. Ciato just snorted, a wicked grin crossing his pale face. He pointed to the same hobo.

"That _is_ Orlouge, you moron," he stated flatly, and Zozma's laughter merely grew. Ildon looked closer at the bum, but he just couldn't see the resemblance. Obviously, Zozma did _too much_ of a good job. He leaned back and shook his head, his arms crossed defiantly.

"That is not," he countered grimly. The bum stepped forward, removing his grubby baseball cap and hairnet. His purple hair fell past his shoulders, onto the ground in a magnificent wave. Ildon's eyes widened. _Now_ he saw the resemblance! But… why was his master dressed in such garbage? "Master?" he called, "Is that… you?" Orlouge nodded.

"It's me, Ildon," he replied calmly, "We need a Sand Vessel, and no one has yet to know I've taken leave." Ildon just cast a skeptical stare. That didn't mean his master had to degrade himself by dressing up like a hobo. Besides, no one was outside. There was no danger.

"And no one shall, but why such a length, sir?" Ildon inquired, and gestured toward the entire city with his gloved hand, "No one is out tonight, sir. Surely you aren't afraid?"

"We have to see Gozarus for the vessel," Rouge replied simply, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Ildon's lips thinned. That _was_ a cause for concern. Not only did Gozarus _hate_ Orlouge, he resided in the bar. Where most of the Mystics would be at this time. If he saw Orlouge, even outside of the bar, waiting quietly, he'd start a ruckus. Not that Ildon blamed the man, but he'd be forced to stop it. He took a deep breath. Just the mere thought of what might've happened made him twitch. Looking around for any sign of a person, he finally turned to them all and nodded.

"All right. He's in the bar, as usual," the Mystic told them sternly, "Want me to accompany you in case he sees past the ruse?" Blue hummed, thinking about the offer. It was a good one. In the off chance that they _were_ discovered, it'd be nice to have some back-up. He wasn't sure of their chances, even with Ciato and Zozma on their side. But, Zozma got the first word in. He shook his head quickly.

"No need, my good man," he said, "We'll do fine on our own. Thanks." He went to walk ahead, but Fuse stopped him. He glared back at the older cop, unable to believe a mere _human_ had the nerve to _stop him_. But Fuse either didn't notice the look, or just didn't care.

"Hold it, soldier. We can't walk in there all willy-nilly," he said carefully, eyeing the large building that served as the bar, "That's the leading cause of cop-killing back in Koorong. Because idiots like you didn't think before acting. Don't go shoving his help away in arrogance…" Zozma just blinked as Fuse rambled onward, wondering if the cop ever understood what the words 'shut up' meant. Obviously, he didn't. He _kept talking_, and within minutes, Zozma found himself ready to rip his hair out. In fact, if Ildon wasn't there _watching him_, he would have.

"_WE DON'T NEED HIS STUPID HELP!_" Zozma finally screamed, and pushed Fuse's hand away, "Stupid humans _never_ let me do ANYTHING fun! No one's going to fucking kill us! I made the best disguise ever! Idiots wouldn't know 'ruse' even if it hit them in the face!" He stormed away, leaving everyone else to watch as he stormed up the wooden steps, and finally blew the door to the bar open. No one said a thing until Fuse shook his head slowly.

"I give him seven seconds before he's tossed out by his ass," the cop commented, and led the team up toward the bar himself.

The bar was packed with Mystics, and Blue was happy that Ildon decided to tag along despite Zozma's rude remarks. It was difficult getting through the door, but finally, they managed. Orlouge looked absolutely shocked to see so many of his villagers here. Now he began to wonder just how many of them came to his party drunk. The thought made him shudder; it explained the Christmas carolers last year that ruined his winter ball. Carefully, as to not show his face in the light, he scanned the rows of heads for a yellow construction cap. That was Gozarus's signature piece of clothing. But he couldn't see it. And, unfortunately, the Time Lord had never been to a bar before. All of the dancing and drinking impressed him, and he kept tugging on Orlouge's sleeve like a little child.

"Back in my day, we didn't have these fancy bars to go to after a night's work! If we wanted a drink, we had to pound the grapes and gather the hops ourselves! And it was _hard work_! Some of us went _barefoot_ through _snow_!" the old Mystic exclaimed, "Remember that, Orlouge?" Orlouge just did his best to ignore the Time Lord. But the poor man kept attracting attention to the two of them by yelling at anyone who passed by about the dangers of drinking. Zozma took to explaining that the Time Lord was their grandfather, but eventually, Ciato had enough of such a lame excuse. It wasn't even working, anyway.

"Damn it, you old goof, shut up!" Ciato hissed angrily, and pointed to a table in the back, "Gozarus is over _there_!" Blue stood on his tiptoes and squinted against the dim light. In the distance, he did see the construction hat Ildon had warned them of beforehand. Holding onto Rouge's arm, he forced his way through the crowd, with Fuse and the Mystics behind them. Near the back, thankfully, the crowd began to thin out. The music wasn't nearly as loud, either. Gozarus was drinking a large bottle of whiskey with a black-haired woman who paid them no attention as they approached.

"Gozarus?" Ildon called, as they came to a stop around the table. Gozarus, a green goblin of a man, belched loudly and looked up to see who it was that addressed him. He scowled when he saw it was Ildon.

"What'dya want… hic?" he asked, his words slurring slightly, "Can' you see I'm in a… dirking contest?" The woman across from him just blinked, but remained silent. Clearly, Gozarus was highly intoxicated and she was not. It was perfect. It'd make dealing with him easier. Ciato just grinned.

"We need a Sand Vessel," he stated, before anyone else could speak, "Got any?" Gozarus blinked slowly. Blue didn't know his alcohol limit, but clearly, he surpassed it by many leagues. It took him two minutes to process what Ciato had asked him. He grinned dumbly, patting a bag near his leg.

"I gots… lots of shit here… hic," he slurred, eyeing Rouge carefully, "It's gonna… hic… cost you some life points… hic." Ciato frowned. That was always a catch with Gozarus. Under no circumstances was cash allowed. For whatever reason, he delighted in lowering human lives… and shortening Mystic ones, for that matter. Zozma wasn't happy about it either, as he threw his arms up in protest.

"Come on! This is an emergency, dude!" he exclaimed, "Can't you give us a discount!? What about more money for beer!?" Obviously, that seemed like a good deal to Zozma, even though Blue was sure Fuse would book Gozarus for excessive drinking at some point soon. But the cop made no move for the cuffs. And, Gozarus shook his head, pointing to the woman across from him.

"Shit… there's… paying for it," he mumbled, "Don't need… hic… no money." The woman looked ready to snap, and promptly, she got up and left. Gozarus cursed at her back, but he didn't accept Zozma's offer, either. Which meant someone here would leave with less than five years left to live. It didn't look very promising. Fuse shrugged, unable to find a compromise, and turned to the group at large.

"Okay, which one of you wants to die first?" he asked casually, as though there was no problem in asking for someone to give up their life. Rouge just stared at his boss as though he were mentally retarded, and no one spoke. Which was fine. If need be, Fuse knew he could just _choose_ someone, and they couldn't object unless they wanted to spend their longer life in jail. Zozma tapped Fuse's shoulder, and taking that for an affirmative, the cop turned. He was severely disappointed when Zozma held up a tiny card.

"Relax. I've got it covered," he whispered, and turned back to Gozarus, "Hey, my man, you have to get with the times! People don't just _give_ life points anymore!" Rouge wasn't sure what Zozma was thinking, but Gozarus seemed mildly interested. He squinted his eyes, unable to see the card's writing. His vision was blurry from drink.

"Whazzat?" he asked, unable to read what the card said. Which was just as well. It was blank. Zozma's grin grew. Now Blue knew what he was doing. He was conning Gozarus to get the vessel for free.

"It's a _life card_," Zozma replied, "See, it's like a credit card, but with life points! We get fifty points if our credit's good. And my credit's awesome. How much is that little vessel?" Gozarus kept trying to read the card, but he just couldn't see the damn words. He frowned, looking from the card, to the massive blur that should've been Zozma's face. He couldn't see the grin on the man.

"Why can'tcha just use life points?" he asked, wishing he could just see what it was he happened to be looking at. Zozma didn't hesitate to take advantage of Gozarus's drunken stupor. His grin grew, and even Ciato was satisfied with the Mystic's idea. Hell, Fuse wasn't moving for his cuffs. He must've found this amusing as well. No one blamed each other for it. Besides, their lives were literally at stake.

"Oh, that's old-school now, bro," Zozma replied, trying to keep his laughter from spilling into his voice, "No one deals with that shit anymore. We're going high-tech now!" Gozarus mumbled something, and then reached down and took out a Sand Vessel from his bag. He played with it for a moment, and slowly, a grin crept onto his face as well. He was obviously planning a con of his own. Zozma didn't seem the least bit worried, though. He was much smarter than Gozarus if he'd gotten this far already.

"A'right… I'll try this card of yours," Gozarus said darkly, "But it's gonna cosht _fifty life pointsh_ for it! I ain't good with thish technical shit you keep talking about, so just give me the whole card 'n you can have yer Shand Vesshel." Zozma expected that fully, and gave Gozarus the little card, taking the vessel in return. Then, they all bid Gozarus a goodnight and ran as fast as they could out of the bar. When they reached the outskirts again, Zozma fell down, laughing hysterically. Getting the Sand Vessel had been too easy. Even Ildon had to crack a smile. As annoying as Zozma was, he was always good to have around for times like that.

"I can't believe you actually conned him!" Rouge exclaimed, as he snickered at the memory, "Zozma, what did that card say?" Zozma grinned and produced another card just like the first one. It was blank.

"Nothing. I gave him a regular, useless card," he replied coolly, grinning from ear to ear, "It'll take him a day to realize I got him. And even then, he won't know who the hell he was dealing with. It's perfect!" Fuse finally looked over and brandished his cuffs. Blue just snorted softly. He'd been waiting for that since they entered the bar. And he'd been wondering why Fuse hadn't done it earlier. The old cop walked over to Zozma and turned the Mystic around to cuff him.

"I didn't want to do this in a bar, but extortion's against the law, kiddo," he said, snapping the cuffs onto Zozma's dark wrists, "You have the right to remain silent. Be smarter than Ciato and take that right. You have the right to an attorney. On the off-chance that you can't afford one, we're pretty sure we can get one for you. You may have one meal a day. You can have one phone call…"

"Boss, can't you let this one go?" Rouge asked, "He helped _save our lives_. How can that be bad!?" But Fuse wasn't one to be swayed by something like logic. His brows furrowed as he held Zozma like a common criminal.

"But he still extorted something. As a representation of the law, I can't ignore that," Fuse stated simply, "Now we just need to get you back to IRPO." Blue wanted to see just how Fuse actually expected Zozma to let him drag him to IRPO, but it was clear Fuse wasn't thinking past the point of arrest. There was nothing there that could take Zozma anywhere.

"Hey, can we deal with this _later_?" the Time Lord asked impatiently, "I'd like to get back and save my world before it collapses completely." Everyone turned to the Time Lord. If ever there was a time for him to use logic, now was it. And he used it perfectly. That was the only thing that could've convinced Fuse to let Zozma go. He unhooked the cuffs and nodded, stepping forward to where they had come from before.

"Yeah. Time Lord's right," he said, and looked up at the sky, "Okay, Virgil. We're ready to go home." Almost as if he could hear them, a portal opened up, exactly where it had been when it led them there. Fuse stepped into it, and vanished. They watched silently, worriedly. When he didn't return, Blue glanced at Rouge, silently wondering if they should go next. Rouge nodded, and both of them stepped forward. The portal opened up to admit them both, and as they disappeared into the void, like before, all they could hope was that their friends were following.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, Blue and his friends now have the Sand Vessel. And it's all from Zozma's doing, as well! Can they save the Time Lord's realm before it collapses into dust, or are they too late? For that matter, is Margmel safe as well? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	33. Time Lord's Spectacular Statements

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they don't like that I now own the SGF II OST. I also do not, and never will, own George Washington.

Within seconds of stepping into the portal, Blue and Rouge found themselves standing in the center of Virgil's large room, their vision blurry from being in space for those few second. It took a while just for the room to stop spinning, and as it did, Blue became aware that someone was speaking to him. But he couldn't recognize the voice just yet. He blinked dully, and then felt someone shaking him. He shook his head, trying both to clear it and to tell the other person to leave him alone. Neither worked. At least, not as well as he wanted. The person backed up, but now he heard the voice more clearly. It was his boss, and he sounded worried.

"You okay, soldier?" Fuse asked him, his voice sounding oddly detached, even though he was right in front of Blue. His face swam into Blue's vision.

"Where am I?" Blue asked sluggishly, the room slowly stopping its turn. Rouge glanced at Fuse with concern as the Mystics behind them appeared from the portal. Fuse nodded, and Rouge turned to his brother.

"We're in Virgil's palace. His magic's way too strong sometimes. It knocked the shit out of me, too," Rouge told him calmly, and put a hand on his shoulder, "Try not to think too much, bro. Just focus on standing up." Blue nodded, and took a deep breath. He had learned that relaxation was the quickest way to clear his mind. And it was helping. The room stopped even further, and he could finally make out shapes and faces. He looked up at Rouge, and nodded. Rouge patted his back and asked, "Feeling better?"

"Yes," came the strained reply, and then, "Is the Sand Vessel safe?" Zozma just grinned as he took out the small jar that looked seemingly empty. It glittered in the firelight behind Virgil.

"It's safe and we're totally ready to rumble," Zozma told him, and turned to Virgil, "We're ready. Fire away, Captain Crunch!" Virgil just blinked, not getting the reference. Then, he looked over to Orlouge, and for the first time, he noticed the terrible disguise the Mystic was in. In proper lighting, Blue finally saw why Ildon had gone ballistic. Orlouge looked absolutely filthy! He wasn't so sure Zozma _didn't_ use actual dirt on the man. And he saw the holes dotting the arms of the old coat, as well as the rainbow-colored stockings. Inwardly, he twitched as well. Virgil's eyes widened for just a moment, unable to decide which expression suited him more: shock, disgust, or bewilderment. All three seemed appropriate to him.

"…Orlouge, my dear friend, why are you dressed like that!?" Virgil demanded in terror. Orlouge just closed his eyes, biting his lip as Zozma snickered. Then, the older Mystic pointed to Zozma and let out a sigh.

"We decided that, in order not to arouse unwanted attention, I would go in a disguise around Rootville," Orlouge stated tiredly, "Zozma assured me this was the best choice." Virgil turned to Zozma with a flat expression on his face. Somehow, it looked comical; Virgil had always given a sense of complete understanding. He must've dealt with Zozma's antics at some point. Right then, he looked annoyed.

"I am not surprised," Virgil stated stiffly, and then his expression calmed, "But regardless, you've acquired the Sand Vessel. Therefore, the Time Lord's realm can be saved."

"But only if you can get us there," Rouge reminded him carefully, "You _can_ do that, right?" Blue glanced warningly at Rouge, but Virgil just gave him a kind smile, and nodded. Out of the corner of his eyes, the old Mystic saw Orlouge taking off the baseball cap and hair net Zozma had put on him. He silently approved. He hated the disguise Zozma had picked out.

"My dear boy, I can do nearly anything. I am, aside from the Time Lord himself, the oldest Mystic in existence. Rest assured, I can send you anywhere with relative ease," Virgil replied calmly. Rouge blinked profusely. Virgil was nearly as old as the Time Lord, but their sanity levels couldn't have been further apart. Virgil was still as sane as ever, but the Time Lord clearly had dementia of some form. Rouge couldn't believe it, except that Mystics didn't tend to lie. After a moment of silence, Virgil said, "It may be best to begin." The Time Lord nodded, brows creased.

"It'd have been best to begin when I _asked_ you to help me the first time, you old fool," he grumbled. Virgil just sighed. He didn't want to remind the Time Lord that he asked to go to _Disney World_, not _Fascinaturu_. Not that the Time Lord would listen; he hadn't listened the first time, either. Fuse positioned everyone in a circle before Virgil's throne, and Ildon handed Virgil something that Blue couldn't see just then. Virgil nodded and smiled, clapping his hands together. The fire behind him went out, and Orlouge hurried over into the circle. Virgil closed his eyes and began chanting, but this time, it was in a language no one recognized. Rouge listened carefully, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember any of the syllables. And yet, Virgil continued on, going faster and faster with each passing second.

"What is he saying?" Rouge whispered to Blue, who had tried as well to understand what Virgil was saying. Like his twin, he also failed. His lips thinned, and he shook his head.

"No idea, but it's not Mystic tongue," he replied just as quietly, "But it's powerful. I can feel the energy pouring off of him from the spell." Rouge just nodded, and behind them, Ciato snorted. Rouge glanced back, confusion written on his face.

"It's a slightly different form of magic. Quite old, but different from ours," Ciato explained, "Some Mystics are beginning to use it now because it doesn't require the life energy from the caster. Personally, though, I like the old ways better." Rouge just shrugged. To him, it didn't make much difference as long as it helped them. Finally, Virgil slowed, and then a portal opened up beneath them all. Rouge's eyes widened, and though he was terrified now, he forced himself to look down. Instead of seeing a marble floor, he saw a huge pocket of outer space, right under his feet. He twitched inwardly, and then just screamed as they all began to fall in. He looked over, but couldn't see Blue anywhere. But he heard his voice, coming from nowhere and everywhere, all at the same time.

"Rouge, calm down. We're fine," his voice said distantly, "Just relax, okay?" Rouge forced himself to breathe deeply. This never happened when he'd done traveling without a ship. But as he breathed deeply, slowly, he felt his heart slow, and he realized nothing bad was truly happening. He was simply falling very slowly. He smiled. This seemed peaceful enough. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and his body stiffened.

"Blue?" he called, "Is that you, bro?" But somehow, he had the feeling it wasn't. Blue was to the _left_ of him, not the right.

"No, it's me," came Ciato's voice, "You're terrified. It's okay, Rouge. We'll be landing soon." Somehow, his voice calmed Rouge down further. When he wasn't stalking or being a total ass, Rouge realized Ciato was actually rather kind. And, true to the Mystic's words, slowly the new world came into focus. Black turned to a swirling blue, and stone arches came into existence. The air felt cold and thin, and pedestals stood in raised platforms all around them, their objects protected within a glowing circle. Everything felt still and detached, just like it had when Blue visited the first time. He looked around the familiar scenery.

"Just as it was before," he commented, his voice echoing strangely in the stillness, "Everything is frozen again." Rouge nodded in silent agreement as the Time Lord walked forward, looking around at his possessions, most of which were ancient artifacts that had been lost to the confines of time. Blue wished he could've stayed longer than he had to study them, but now wasn't the time to ask. He looked to the Time Lord and asked, "How did your clock break, sir?"

"My clock?" Time Lord echoed, turning back to him, "Oh! My clock! It cracked… let's see… you know, I'm not even sure." Rouge raised an incredulous brow.

"You don't know how your own clock broke?" he replied, and the Time Lord nodded.

"That's what I said, boy. I came out of my room one day, and it was just cracked. Heavens knows why, of course," the Time Lord told him, "…hey! Maybe you can figure it out! Police cops solve mysteries, right?" Rouge pursed his lips, blinked quickly. This was going in a direction he wanted to avoid, and desperately, he turned to Fuse for help. Fuse hummed, and to Rouge's dismay, he nodded. He took out a notebook and a pen, and jotted down the fact that the Time Lord didn't know why his clock was broken. Then he looked at the Mystic in question.

"We'll take the case," he said firmly, "Now, we're going to have to ask you some stuff, so try to remember the answers, okay?" The Time Lord nodded, and Fuse then asked, "Do you have any enemies? Anyone who might want you dead?" This time, the Time Lord's eyes narrowed flatly. He must not have taken the question seriously.

"I'm _one million_ years old. Any enemies I do have are dead by now," the Mystic stated bluntly, "And I can't think of anyone who'd want to kill me!" Rouge heard Ciato grumble a disagreement, and he tried to hide a snort of amusement. Obviously, the Time Lord didn't pay attention very well to other people's reactions to him. Fuse blinked, and then wrote that down. Blue noted the somewhat disbelieving expression on the older cop's face, and then Fuse resumed his inquiry.

"Now, have you seen anything suspicious here? Any people you don't remember letting in?" Fuse asked this time. The Time Lord looked up at the ceiling, tapping his chin as he tried to think of the answer. Time had gone on for so long, he had a hard time remembering who and what he let in, and when that ever was. Then he took a look around the room and shrugged.

"If I did, they're frozen by now," he answered simply. Fuse sighed in frustration and wrote that answer down as well. Maybe taking this case _was_ a bad decision.

"Right," Fuse commented lowly, and continued, "What were you doing the night you discovered your clock was broken?" Rouge glanced at Blue, trying to hold in his laughter. He had a feeling that, whatever the answer, Fuse wouldn't like it. The Time Lord tapped his chin again, and smiled.

"Why, I was asleep," he replied, "See, I discovered the clock in the _morning_, so on the _night_ of discovery, I was asleep. It's simple logic, really." Blue personally thought Fuse's head would explode. But the cop was good at keeping his cool… sometimes. He rephrased the question, his teeth gritting in annoyance.

"…what were you doing _just before_ you found the clock, wiseass?" Fuse asked again, and now his irritation was apparent. Rouge kept snorting, even as Blue nudged him to quiet him down.

"Just before? Why, I was having tea and biscuits with George Washington!" the Time Lord exclaimed proudly, and Fuse actually dropped his pen, staring at the Mystic like he was a complete moron, "Did you actually know he prefers English muffins over biscotti? It's incredible! I love all the little, chocolate chips you get in a biscotti, but he prefers the buttery goodness of toast. Fuse, why aren't you writing this down?" Fuse didn't answer. Blue didn't think he could. He kept staring in utter bewilderment at the Time Lord, unable to figure out just how or why he'd be eating breakfast with someone _who died centuries ago_. Rouge looked from Fuse, to the old Mystic. Then he glanced at Orlouge. Even Orlouge was shaking his head in disapproval. He must've realized he'd have to babysit the Time Lord if this was going to work out.

"Are you seriously saying you ate breakfast with the first president of the United States?" Zozma asked him. He nodded, and Rouge glanced back at the red-haired Mystic, tilting his head.

"What is the United States?" he asked curiously. Zozma grinned.

"Some other world or something like that," he replied simply, "I just know I've read about it. It's supposed to be really big, and it's infested with nothing but _humans_. There's no magic there, either." Rouge didn't have the heart to say that wherever the United States were, it sounded bad. He turned back to the Time Lord, whose brows creased seriously, his face becoming grumpy.

"You don't even believe me!" he declared indignantly, "What, you think I'm lying!? You don't think I can bring other people from other worlds here!? How do you think I keep such a robust social life? I _control TIME ITSELF!_" This time, no one seemed to believe him. Fuse glanced at everyone else, but no one made a move to say anything. Not that they could; the Time Lord would find a way to say that _their_ logic made no sense to him. And because he was so old, he wouldn't even try and consider their words. Blue finally decided that he'd give it a try. Technically, he was the best at being diplomatic. Or perhaps he was just good with words.

"Time Lord, that's just not possible," he stated calmly, "Historians say that he died over two hundred years ago. Unless you went back in time and brought him _here_, which might destroy the fabrics of time itself, I can't believe you." The Time Lord turned to him stiffly, his face hardened and stern. He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"What do _historians_ know? They weren't here," he pointed out childishly, "Look, are you people going to listen to a dummy, or are you going to listen to _me_?" Blue just closed his eyes for a long moment. So much for trying to be nice. Behind him, he heard Rouge snort again.

"Is there actually a difference?" the younger mage asked, and he heard Ciato tell him to shut up. Blue opened his eyes. Fuse had picked up his pen, but he hadn't written anything else down. He doubted his bosses would believe that a _dead president_ had brunched with an old Mystic. They barely believed that a new way of inter-world transportation was being built right under their noses. He scrunched his nose.

"Okay, for the sake of moving on, we'll say you were eating breakfast," Fuse began, and the Time Lord cut him off.

"With George Washington," he reminded the flustered cop, whose flat expression returned.

"Right. With George Washington," he repeated flatly, "What happened before you went to see your clock? What were you talking about?" The Time Lord hummed, recalling that day. He remembered the biscuits, and he remembered eating jam with them, but he couldn't remember what they'd been talking about. It could've been flowers, for all he knew. And, because he didn't know, he decided that was his answer. Never mind that it was most probably incorrect. Never mind that it might hinder the investigation. He thought it sounded right.

"Flowers," he told them, and Blue was sure Fuse would drop his pen again. If he hadn't believed the old Mystic before, he _definitely_ didn't believe him _now_. And personally, Blue couldn't blame him for that. As open-minded as he tried to be, Blue couldn't wrap his mind over this story, either.

"You were talking about flowers?" Ciato asked him, raising a slender, white brow in amusement, "Why the hell would you talk to him about _those?_"

"Because they're pretty," the Time Lord responded stubbornly, "Anyway, after that, I heard the doorbell ring. So, I got up to answer it." Fuse's eyes widened on this critical piece of information. Someone else had been there, after all! Rouge simply looked around, trying to _find_ the front door. Technically, there was none. The Time Lord's region literally was a pocket of space, where you could only get to under certain circumstances. So how _did_ one ring a doorbell there?

"…are you saying someone else was here with you?" Fuse asked him critically, and he nodded, "Any particular reason you didn't tell us this _before_?" Blue didn't think it was good for Fuse's sanity to hear the answer, but obviously Fuse didn't consider himself as capable of losing his cool. And neither did the Time Lord, for he shrugged simply.

"I didn't think it was important," he replied, "Anyway, I answered the door, and who should appear but this little, noble brat from some form of aristocracy! Do you have any idea how unprepared I was? My house wasn't made for little kids, and I didn't think it was time for Halloween, either. I told him to go home, but he insisted on staying." Fuse just blinked flatly at the old Mystic again, and even though he had no idea where this would make sense, he wrote it down, anyway. It was still a lead, even if its credibility was questionable. Rouge just looked at the Time Lord incredulously. He seemed pretty satisfied with his answers.

"Okay, so some rich guy you don't know waltzes into your place, and you don't think it's important for _what_ insane reason?" he questioned, "Do you have strange people wandering around all the time!?" The Time Lord just smiled weakly and shook his head.

"You have no idea the whackos I meet sometimes," he replied bluntly. Blue didn't think Fuse's expression could get any more skeptical, but somehow, the cop succeeded in it. He was half ready to rip up the notes he'd just jotted down.

"So, what did this child do?" Fuse asked him, and by the tone of voice, the cop seemed to be praying for patience, whatever good that'd do him then. The Time Lord led them out of the front hall and toward another chamber, this one being furnished somewhat like a modern living room. Maybe he _did_ try in living a normal life. He sat down in a sofa, gesturing for everyone else to sit, too, even though there weren't nearly enough seats for all of them.

"The child? Oh, well, after I told him to get out of my house, he just said 'no' and walked into my clock chamber," the old Mystic replied casually, "I heard some banging and clinking, so I was wondering if _he_ was trying to fix my clock. Which is weird, because I don't think it was broken before then. But it must've been." Everyone seemed pretty sure the Time Lord had no idea what actually happened in his own home. Rouge glanced from Blue, to Ciato, to Ildon, and even to Zozma. They all, without even talking, seemed to form the general consensus that they didn't believe the Time Lord. The young mage returned his gaze to the Mystic in question. He, at least, was damn sure his story was straight.

"…did it ever occur to you that he might've been the one who broke your clock?" Rouge asked slowly. The Time Lord blinked, as though he were actually considering Rouge's suggestion, as wild and insane as he thought it was. But in the end, he shook his head.

"Absolutely preposterous!" the old Mystic declared, "Why, how can you even suggest that? Do you think I'd let _any_ old bum in my house if I thought he'd destroy everything!? Well, let me tell _you_, I'm not some punk brought up on the curb! I have street smarts, and I _know_ when bad things happen in _my_ house! I'd have _known_ if he destroyed everything. I'd have had George kick him out if that happened!" Rouge raised a brow, trying not to just laugh at the guy. Anyone who had street smarts wouldn't have been trying to convince them that a _dead president_ from _another world_ was eating breakfast with him. Anyone with _any_ smarts would've put two and two together by now. Even Fuse seemed to understand what was most probably what happened. Whoever this man had been, he did something to break the clock.

"Time Lord, is that man still here?" Ildon asked, trying to remain at least a little compassionate toward the old, demented Mystic, no matter how little he actually deserved it. The Time Lord tilted his head questioningly.

"Who, George?" he replied, and smiled, "No, no, he said he had to sign some declaration, so I let him go."

"We were talking about the aristocrat you were complaining about!" Zozma exclaimed in exasperation, "Damn it, Orlouge! Can I please have permission to kill him!?" Orlouge turned to the red-haired Mystic flatly, looking completely disinterested in the man's frustrated request. He shook his head.

"Permission denied," he stated, and then turned to his oldest friend, "What of the aristocrat? Did he leave?" The Time Lord looked confused now. He must've forgotten who they were referring to. Blue just snorted as Fuse brought the poor man back up to speed. This was definitely the most frustrating, yet amusing case they've involved themselves in, and he suddenly found he was beginning to miss when Joker had been with them. At least _he_ cooperated fully to help them. Then again, he was the one who was being charged at the time, too, even though he hadn't actually done anything of his own volition. Finally, though, the Time Lord snapped his fingers, snapping Blue out of his thoughts.

"Oh, heavens, no!" he declared proudly, "When I heard all that noise, I was terrified something was going wrong when it didn't stop after an hour! I walked in and saw a huge crack in the glass, so I was sure it was starting to shatter again, and I locked the door so nothing else would happen. Now that I think of it… I might've locked _him_ in there, too." Rouge and Blue stared in utter horror. That had to have been nearly five days ago, perhaps even more! Five long days without food, water, or a place to go to the bathroom. No human could live with that. No normal one, anyway. Rouge turned to Fuse.

"Boss, I think we'd better go and see this chamber. We might have a corpse on our hands," he stated worriedly. Fuse nodded, writing what the Time Lord said down as a statement. He also added a footnote stating that the Time Lord definitely wasn't in the proper mindset when they began this investigation. Then he put his pad away and nodded absently in response to Rouge's suggestion.

"I agree. Okay, Time Lord. Take us to this chamber of yours and let's see what's happened," Fuse said. The Time Lord led them out of the living room and through a dark hallway; space literally seemed to swirl above where a ceiling should've been, shattering whatever illusion the living room was trying to give. The chamber doors were sealed and barred shut, and Rouge swallowed hard as they walked up the short flight of stone steps leading to it. A knot began to form in his stomach over what might be in there, and the air felt thin and cold. It was like a horror flick he'd seen with Red; someone somewhere was dead, or going to die soon. It was all just a matter of how long it'd take to find it.

"You don't really think there's a dead body in there, do you?" Zozma asked Ciato, as they came closer to the set of wooden doors. Ciato's face paled slightly, unable to form an answer; he was partly worried they'd find a corpse, too. Ildon, however, just snorted and shook his head. Unlike everyone else, he hadn't fully dealt with the Time Lord. Or with Fuse. Or, pretty much, with any part of this harebrained investigation.

"If there is, it belongs to a dead rabbat," he said sarcastically, "Do you honestly expect me to believe this man keeps dead, rotting flesh in his _house_? Come on, not even Lord Orlouge would do that, even if Princess Rei actually died." Ciato actually laughed, and Rouge couldn't help but snort, just a little bit. Orlouge, who was in the back, creased his brows and cleared his throat. But if he thought that'd get Ildon's attention, he was disappointed. So, he tried the direct approach.

"I can _hear_ you!" he shouted, and Ciato's laughter grew, "Let me advise you that if you do _not_ stop _talking behind my back_, there _will_ be a dead body in there!" Fuse glanced back flatly at the desperate threat, and Blue saw him move for his handcuffs. But no one else seemed to take the flustered Mystic even remotely seriously. Zozma just grinned and looked back at his master.

"Technically, lord o' mine, we're not behind you," he reminded him, "So, aren't you really eavesdropping on _us_?" Orlouge's eyes widened, and he stopped. Clearly, that form of logic flabbergasted him. And by the look on the Time Lord's face, it flabbergasted him, as well. Only Fuse seemed even remotely willing to back up Zozma's question as he turned around and walked to Orlouge. Blue just sighed. Clearly, this was going to be another perfectly retarded Fuse moment.

"So now we've got you on kidnapping, harassment, wrongful imprisonment, civil disobedience, _and_ eavesdropping?" Fuse asked him, almost amused, "Just how many centuries of jail time are you looking to serve, buddy?" Rouge couldn't help but snicker again. If Fuse actually thought he was going to arrest a Mystic, he must've forgotten he'd have to deal with Ildon, Ciato, and Zozma as well. Except for the fact that Zozma was the one who _made_ the accusation, and Ciato seemed more likely to just sit and laugh rather than help his own master out. And Rouge couldn't be sure of just how loyal Ildon was. Orlouge didn't seem the least bit afraid of Fuse, however, for he turned to the cop and shook his head.

"Now wait just a minute, my friend!" he exclaimed in exasperation, "I did no such thing! Eavesdropping requires it to be purposely done and voluntary in nature! I didn't _mean_ to hear them! They were speaking loudly enough for me to be unable to avoid! And _they_ insulted me! By rights, _I_ should be offended!" Blue glanced at Fuse, wondering how the old cop was taking that counter-attack. Fuse just shrugged and turned to Ciato and Zozma. It must not have mattered who he'd be arresting, just as long as it was _someone_.

"He's got us there," Fuse stated simply, "All right, which one of you hates your lives a little more?" Blue just let out a groan of frustration as Ciato raised his hand. Fuse walked over and began handcuffing him, reading him his rights in prison, while Rouge just laughed at the scene. Blue shook his head. If anyone was going to get this investigation rolling, it'd have to be him. He walked up to Fuse and tapped his shoulder. The old cop turned and said, "Son, it's really rude to interrupt a booking. Is this important?" Blue's eyes narrowed flatly. Considering that they were smack in the _middle_ of a _mission_ to _save a world_, he thought it was very important.

"I don't know. Is the possibility of finding a corpse and saving a world 'important?" Blue retorted in annoyance, "Sir, can't you make an arrest _after_ we've checked out the crime scene?" Fuse wanted to argue that he wanted to make an arrest _right then_, but in a blast of logic, he realized Blue's point. For all they knew, there wouldn't be a corpse, and the culprit that broke the Time Lord's clock might actually get away. Besides, checking the crime scene first was the right way to do things, and while Fuse liked to get creative when it came to _making_ arrests, he did like to follow the rules at least a little bit. He nodded, and released Ciato.

"All right… we might as well," he sighed, and turned to the Time Lord, "You mind opening this door up so we can get this over with? I want to make an arrest sometime today." The Time Lord just nodded, and everyone parted to let him through. He strode majestically to the doors, and held out a hand. For a moment, everyone watched with extreme interest, assuming he'd use some kick ass magic to break it down. But he did no such thing. Taking a deep breath, he said one word. One word that, in his mind, should've blown the doors apart with such magnificence, such splendor, such _fiery rage_, that no door in existence would ever block their path again simply in _fear_ of that one, single, simple word.

"Open," he commanded, holding his hand out to the door. Everyone else waited. Nothing happened in the least. Rouge raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was more to what the Time Lord was planning, but the old Mystic shrugged after a moment, turned, and said, "I did all I can do." Then he walked down the steps, as though it were no big deal that his door was hindering their investigation. Fuse watched him with narrow eyes, and then looked over at Blue and Rouge, both of whom nodded. The doors were simple enough; though they were large, they were made of wood, and latched shut with a wooden bar. Blue and Rouge ran to one end of the bar and lifted it up and away, setting it against the stone frame. Fuse took a deep breath, and using the thirty-seven some-odd years of strength his body had in it, began to push against the doors. Slowly, painfully slowly, the doors began to open, the crack between them widened as it admitted a bright, golden light from the other side. Zozma and Ciato shielded their eyes, squinting even in the protection their armor offered them. The light spilled onto the otherwise blue stone floor, and when his eyes adjusted, Blue saw the outline of the giant hourglass within. Fuse walked in, followed by Rouge, and then Blue, and then the Mystics behind them. The room was quiet, the air cold.

"Anyone in here?" Rouge called, his voice surprisingly muffled in the room. He stepped forward, and heard a crunch underneath him. Bending down, he picked up a handful of fine, white sand. It was spilling, just slightly, from a small crack within the clock. Rouge glanced around again, and then turned as he asked, "Time Lord, are you _sure_ someone was in here?"

"Well… not _absolutely_, but I don't think he got away," came the uncertain reply, "Oh, and I remember why I never closed those doors back there. What a pain to open!" Fuse silently agreed as he rubbed his aching shoulder, looking all over the clock to find any sign of a person, dead _or_ alive. But there was nothing out of the ordinary, and the only noise, save for their conversations, came from the sand that spilled onto the floor. He growled in frustration. Something about this seemed too innocent.

"Did you _see_ him escape?" Fuse demanded tiredly, leaning against the clock. The Time Lord looked up at the golden ceiling, tapping his chin. Then he shook his head.

"No. I didn't take a good look when I shut the doors," he replied, and everyone else groaned miserably, "Is that a problem?"

"Most of your facts would've been a bit more helpful beforehand," Ildon mumbled, laying his palm against his forehead. Fuse took out his notebook, his eyebrows raising in acknowledgment to Ildon's statement when he heard tapping behind him. He jumped up in shock, and everyone looked at the bottom chamber of the hourglass. Just barely, in the sand, they caught a faint outline of a person. Blue blinked quickly. Someone was actually _trapped_ in the clock! Fuse swore angrily, and taking out his blaster, he smashed a huge hole in the glass, and the person came sliding out. Unlike the Time Lord's description, however, this person was in no way a child. He looked older than Blue! But he _was_ dressed as nobility. His long, brown hair was tied in a braid, and with Rouge's help, he stood up and shook his head. Sand cascaded onto the floor.

"…Time Lord, I thought you said a _child_ was trapped in the clock," Ciato pointed out disinterestedly. The Time Lord put his hands on his hips and nodded.

"I'm over three trillion years old, boy. _Everyone_ is a child compared to me," the old Mystic stated, "And you all just broke my clock _even more_!" Unfortunately for him, no one appeared to care much for his clock right then. The nobleman dusted his red cloak off, and Fuse walked up to him. Blue was amazed at the sheer contrast between the two; this man was clearly bred for high social class, and Fuse looked rugged, ragged, and now he was beginning to look just a little unshaven, too. It was almost comical, because _Fuse_ happened to be _in charge_ of the interrogation now.

"Are you all right, soldier?" Fuse asked in alarm, "What's your name, son?" The nobleman looked down at him, and Blue swore he recognized the man. But from where, he couldn't place. The man chuckled, a thin smile gracing his lips.

"I am Philippe of Finney," he stated calmly, and extended a hand, "We've met in Hahn Nova. I believe you took Rita to court and had her executed by my brother." Fuse looked at him blankly, as though he couldn't remember what the man was saying. Then he grinned and shook Philippe's hand.

"I remember now! You were the bastard who took three hours driving a boat there!" Fuse exclaimed, and Blue's face paled. He wasn't _entirely_ sure how aristocracy worked and how easy it was to offend them, but he was certain Fuse managed to pull it off. The thin, slight smile on Philippe's face vanished instantly, and his nose wrinkled. He was _definitely_ offended.

"How lovely to see you too, sir," he replied, and coughed, "Well, I suppose I'll just be on my way, then." He let go of Fuse's hand and went to walk out the door, but Ciato blocked him with his sword.

"Hold it! What the hell were you doing in that clock!?" the young Mystic demanded, "Are you the one who broke in here and broke it!?"

"Yes he is!" the Time Lord exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Philippe, "He interrupted George's story on some river called Delaware! I remember him!" Not only did Philippe look at the old man flatly, but Ciato didn't seem to credit the ancient's words, either. He growled and shook his head, gesturing for Fuse to take over before he hurt someone. Fuse obliged.

"Why'd you come here in the first place?" the cop asked calmly, though there was a tone of skepticism in his voice, "Shouldn't you be helping your brother with political mumbo-jumbo in Hahn Nova?" Philippe's eyes narrowed and one of his eyes actually twitched. Something must've happened between him and Gustave.

"If by 'help,' you mean 'kill,' then yes. I should probably be doing that," Philippe agreed, and then just decided to go on a tangent, "I can't believe him, either! Raising taxes in Finney! In _our dear father's homeland!_ Just because I managed to _accidentally_ sink two of our merchant ships and delayed shipping businesses all along Westia and Jade! Because _he_ can't have his stupid Cantal-style eggs and biscuits, he's going to charge _me_ for it!" Fuse turned and risked a glance at the two twins, feeling that they'd probably be best-suited to handling a situation like this. Rouge was laughing; Blue was merely shaking his head in disbelief. This sounded like something Rouge would pull for fun.

"Okay, so you _destroyed_ your brother's economy, and you're wondering why he's charging _you_ for it?" Zozma asked, raising an amused brow, "Why come _here_?" Philippe breathed heavily, clearly taxed from the energy used to rant like that. He took steady, deep breaths. When his heart stopped threatening to explode, he spoke.

"I came here to _erase him from time_!" Philippe declared, brows creasing, "I want to show him that you can't mess with aristocracy! There's no way I'm paying seven percent tax on a _robe_. I'm _royalty_! Do you have any idea how many robes I _own_!?" Blue just blinked slowly. This _definitely_ sounded like Rouge. He glanced at his brother, and then at Philippe. If he wanted to reach out, he'd have to use the same logic he applied when dealing with Rouge's antics.

"If you erase Gustave, you'll be killing yourself, too," Blue reasoned flatly. Philippe opened his mouth to protest, and then he closed it. Technically, Blue was right. And even though Gustave ruined his life when he was little, through no true fault of Gustave's, Philippe liked living. He liked ruling Finney. He liked _winning battles_. He sighed, and turned back to Fuse.

"You can arrest my brother for this, can't you?" he asked, "You're a guard, aren't you?" Fuse raised a questioning brow, and just grinned.

"This isn't extortion, so I can't do a damn unless he's blowing the money on drugs," the cop replied, almost regretfully, "And technically, you're the one who broke and entered this premises, so I don't think you should be talking to me about stopping crimes, buddy." Philippe's mouth dropped. That might've been true, but in his mind, he wouldn't have had to do so if Gustave had been brought to justice for _raising his taxes_. Thankfully, he was respectful enough to not argue with the law. Not that he would've won. He just sighed, and Fuse turned, nearly smacking into the Time Lord, who'd come up to tap his shoulder. Fuse gave a questioning glance and asked, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to remind you, since you're supposed to be helping me, that my _clock is STILL BROKEN!_" the Time Lord shouted angrily, brows creasing in an angry V, "We have the culprit, so I demand you all fix my clock this instant! Right now! Now, now, now!" Blue wasn't sure just how he should feel about the Time Lord throwing a temper tantrum, but he was pretty sure amusement was his key emotion. He looked at Rouge. The younger mage looked at the hourglass, wondering just how they were possibly going to patch up the huge hole Fuse just made. He looked at his older brother. Blue was smiling. He must've known something.

"You have a plan, bro?" he asked. Blue nodded, taking the Sand Vessel out of his pocket.

"Just follow my lead, Rouge," Blue replied slyly, "I've fixed this clock before." Rouge nodded, and a small smile graced him as well. Even if _he_ had no idea how to fix such a huge clock, Blue obviously knew what he was doing. Rouge trusted Blue. Together, they jumped up to the rim of the hourglass, where a giant clock face sat to keep the top chamber closed. Blue bent down, and began to focus his power on the Sand Vessel. If he was going to patch the clock up again, he'd need a lot of power and focus to do it. He just hoped he and Rouge had enough. At the very least, for the Time Lord's sake.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, after getting the Sand Vessel and asking Virgil to take them to the Time Lord's world, Blue and Rouge finally find the culprit behind the broken clock! Just how Philippe got into a pocket of space is beyond them, but at least they solved the case. Now, can they fix the Time Lord's broken clock before time itself collapses? What of the Time Lord's breakfast buddy? And will any more unwanted guests pass through? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	34. Mission Impossible: Impossibly Awesome!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said I can't own the deed to their offices.

The twins' power continued to grow when Rouge closed his eyes, lending Blue the strength he had to continue the spell. But there was a real problem that neither could ignore, and both feared it may severely interfere with their spell; neither had slept in a long time, and both were becoming exhausted. Just the effort of holding such a spell was proving to be taxing, and it drained Rouge considerably just to give Blue his energy. Likewise, Blue was having trouble holding their spell together. Everyone else watched with a mixture of worry or fear. Ciato even went to help, but Ildon stopped him. Even if Ciato managed to get to them, Mystic magic was different from their own magic. It wouldn't help them at all.

"Think they can do it?" Orlouge asked quietly, as Zozma and the Time Lord watched on, the brothers on the clock beginning to glow blue and red with their energy. Orlouge had sounded overly concerned, but Fuse seemed relaxed. He trusted his boys.

"They're my best soldiers. Wouldn't doubt 'em for a second," Fuse replied, a confident smirk on his face. But something told him that no one else had quite the same level of trust as he did. He looked up, wondering just what was wrong, and saw that Rouge was kneeling, his breathing labored. Likewise, Blue was affected similarly. Fuse's face paled. He'd never seen that happen before.

"They're running out of strength!" Zozma called out in alarm, and Fuse turned to him, his eyes wide. The Mystic sounded terrified as he spoke. Ciato hovered a little above ground, unsure of what to do. But like Zozma, he felt the power of both brothers dropping, nearly crashing. They would be dead if they didn't stop. He turned to Ildon quickly.

"He's right. We have to do something!" the white-haired Mystic urged. But Ildon remained standing, his arms crossed. It just wasn't that simple for them. They were Mystics, and it was still against the law to help humans. As an enforcer of Orlouge's, Ildon couldn't just break that law. He shook his head.

"If we do, we'll be thrown in prison for it," he stated calmly, despite his own growing worries and inner conflict. Ciato lost it immediately, and grabbed the Mystic by his collar, pulling him into the air. He held Ildon close, close enough to feel the man's breath.

"I think I'll risk prison for them," Ciato growled, eyes narrowing angrily, "I'd rather have some actual friends than die knowing that I couldn't save them. Besides, prison? Really? That's the best you can threaten me with?" Ildon bit his lip. Ciato wasn't kidding around now. Suddenly, there was a bright light atop the clock, and everyone turned toward it. Blue and Rouge were no longer there; instead, they had forced themselves to accept Aubergine's help before they killed themselves. Ciato's eyes widened in terror. The power he felt was astounding, even by Mystic standards!

"What the hell _is_ that!?" Zozma asked, as the master that was Aubergine closed his eyes, his hands outstretched toward the Sand Vessel. Brilliant purple light surrounded him, exuding a power so intense that the room itself seemed to dim. Philippe and the Time Lord backed away, unable to handle the vibrations of power Aubergine gave off. Even Orlouge, the most powerful among them, was taken aback by the sheer power. It was like looking upon an avalanche: unstoppable, and so very, very vast. And with their minds so closely melded together, Aubergine was only slightly aware of his friends. He couldn't let his concentration waver. An apparition of Rouge appeared and looked to his right.

'_They're scared, bro. What do we do?_' Rouge asked his equally ghostly brother, who appeared next to him. Blue looked down sympathetically, but there was very little they could do. If they reverted before Aubergine finished his work, they _would_ die.

'_We have to wait_,' Blue replied seriously, and when Rouge frowned, he said, '_I know it's hard, but it'll be even worse for them if we die right now. Just trust me_.' Rouge already did that, but he wanted to help his friends. They looked mortified. Even Ciato, whom he disliked to a certain extent, looked scared shitless. But he knew Blue was right. He just sighed, and they watched their fused form continue to work.

After several minutes, time seemed to have no true flow to anyone within the chamber. No one could recall how long they stood there, watching, waiting for the purple-robed master to finish his craft and let his single identities take control again. He worked as quickly as he could, sensing the constant danger his single souls were enduring. Every second he worked, their life was drained, and while he was saving them from dying quickly, he was causing them to die more slowly as well, prolonging their pain. And in _his_ mind, the conglomeration of both Blue and Rouge's thoughts and memories, he refused to allow that. They both deserved to live, to see another day. Finally mumbling one more spell, he aimed the rest of his energy at the vessel. The clock face began to glow, and bright light enveloped the room once again. This time, it was so blinding that everyone down below were forced to shield their eyes. Even Blue and Rouge, normally unaffected by such things in their ghostly forms, backed away from the light. Aubergine, however, kept his eyes wide open as he looked upon the completion of his work. The clock began to spin quickly, the hands moving erratically, pointing to all hours while at the same time appearing to tell no true sense of time. The sand that had spilled was sucked back into the bottom chamber of the large hourglass, and continued moving against gravity, up toward the top chamber.

"What's going on?" Zozma had to yell over the howl of magic, "Everything's going backwards!"

"Time is repairing itself," the Time Lord replied seriously, and everyone looked over at him, "Time's going to flow naturally now. They're doing it. They're actually doing the impossible!" Ciato looked over at him as the light continued to grow ever brighter. The impossible! How could two humans do such a task? Not even Mystics, not even the Time Lord himself, had ever been able to actually _restore_ time. Time was a thing to be lost, no matter what you filled it with.

"How can this be?" Orlouge asked quietly, eyes wide as the light slowly faded, "To… to reverse such damage! And to restore time itself! Time Lord, how can two humans do this?" The Time Lord didn't answer immediately. He was watching as the effects of such amazing power took shape. Any damage that had come to his realm was reversing; shattered windows and crumbled walls were slowly going backwards, sucking back the dust and remnants of glass that had long since fallen until they were whole once again. Layers of filth ceased to be, and noises from long-dead specimens and clockwork machines began to filter through. Rumblings from said machines filled the rooms beyond.

"Amazing," the Time Lord gasped, looking around, "Truly… I've never seen my realm in such a state for eons of time. How on earth… what have they done?" Fuse looked over at the old Mystic, realizing that, as time rewound, the old man was becoming more and more eloquent. The sight before the old cop made his mouth drop. The realm wasn't the only thing changing from the reversal of time. The Time Lord himself was aging backwards, his white hair slowly turning to a light blue, his skin becoming smoother, and his clothing less faded out than before. His smile, which had been but a wrinkle of its former self, was wide, his brows set in a way as to give an amused, knowing look. The transformation was astounding; he looked even more regal than Orlouge was.

"What the hell!?" Fuse blurted out, unable to believe for himself what had truly happened. But no one turned to him. They were too transfixed upon the Time Lord, who merely beamed as he realized just what happened to him. Finally, no longer would he have to suffer through the diseases of old age! He was back to his former self, all thanks to Aubergine. Slowly, he closed his eyes, his smile still soft as he silently thanked the mages responsible.

"I am young again," he said quite simply, answering Fuse's question, "They've not only reversed the damage to my clock, they've restored what damage is associated with it! Time, quite literally, has been fixed. Even my corporeal form, which was aging due to the suffering my realm has taken over the eons of eras I've seen, is back to what it once was. Truly amazing!"

"But won't that affect _our_ timelines, too?" Ciato pointed out, raising a brow, "Won't we disappear?" The Time Lord thought about that for a second. It was a valid worry. But they wouldn't be affected. His realm was outside of the scope of space; technically, his realm didn't even truly exist. It was literally a pocket of nothingness, where the fabrics of time had been compressed for all eternity. He shook his head.

"No. Time is a constant, like a river flowing downward. _Your_ time cannot be erased. But my realm, beyond the continuum of space, can be manipulated without causing harm to you, or to any world at all," the Time Lord explained, clasping his hands together, "As it is, if you were to ask a scientist, he would call you delusional, explaining that a world where its core clockwork is time itself would never exist. He would explain that time has no past or future, that it's just the now, to be wasted." Unfortunately, such an explanation only proved to confuse the Mystic further. Fuse also seemed perturbed by the answer, looking to Orlouge for a further explanation. But the Mystic merely smiled, indicating to let the Time Lord go on. This was a rare opportunity, to listen to such a theory. Fuse just nodded and acted accordingly.

"But then if science can prove time doesn't exist, how come we have memory? And why use clocks at all?" Fuse asked, hoping that was what Orlouge wanted. The purple-haired Mystic gave no clue. The Time Lord chuckled softly, circling the bottom of the hourglass with a slender finger.

"Ah, the age old question. Clocks are to help humans measure when their events take place," the Time Lord replied, "You see, time and history go hand in hand. Science is contradictory that way. They value history, for the past attempts of the greatest in their fields, but they argue fiercely that time is meaningless in their fields, too. Nothing could be so further from the truth!

"Human memory is the strongest 'pockets' of time we can have, because as long as there is more than one witness, we cannot change that particular event. And there is always more than one witness, even if we think we are alone. A person can try to change their memory through lies, but they do not truly change fact," the Time Lord continued, "Time, as it were, is merely a way of measuring the when of when something happens. It allows… an organized way to view these facts, and puts human history into perspective. Without time, historians couldn't say for certain that man evolved from primates. We could argue easily that humans had always been just as you see them, and that evolution doesn't exist." It was clear that this was too much for Fuse to handle at any given time. His eyes glazed over during the Time Lord's lecture. But Ciato had been paying attention, as had Ildon. Both of them glanced at each other in awe.

"So, in short, time pretty much holds together all of the races of the world," Ildon concluded, "And every place, thing, and event that's ever happened, and when it correctly happened." The Time Lord nodded, and Ildon said, "And because your realm doesn't exist on the _same plane_, it can withstand being reversed without harming us. It's on a separate plane altogether!"

"Exactly!" exclaimed the Time Lord, "Exactly right. There are six different planes discovered so far. The lowest one is hell, where nightmares spawn from the pits of darkness. Just above that is the world of the dead, where we all go when we finally pass. Then there is space, which allows matter to remain at all, providing the base for every star, planet, and world you see. Above that is the material plane, where plants, animals, humans, and everything that's 'real' lives. Then there's the spirit world, where our incorporeal selves go when we die. Whereas our souls delve downward, our spirits go upward, allowing knowledge to continue onward for eternity. Higher still is the concept of Time, where I live, with few others to help keep the natural order of time. And then, lastly, is the plane of Magic. This is what spawns the other races, such as Mystics, Espers, elves, faeries, sprites, nymphs, and all forms of monsters. Each plane lives in harmony of each other, and yet separate of each other as well." Ildon just smiled at the wisdom of the old Mystic's words. Never had he heard such information. Now, he was glad that time had been reversed for the poor lord. Imagine the eternal suffering on the man's soul, should he have forgotten such valuable knowledge! Ciato, however, still had his own questions.

"But how did Blue and Rouge _reverse_ time?" he asked pointedly, "That is said to be impossible, even by your standards! How can it be so?" The Time Lord's smile became sly as he crossed his arms, leaning on his clock.

"Because their fused mind, Aubergine… is a master of all six planes," he stated darkly, "They were created to become the greatest wizard in the entirety of the universe's frame. By splitting them as children, they were able to each learn a side of magic, each class of it relating to a different plane. And by fusing, they have fused all of the planes as one, allowing a being with the ability to traverse _every known plane_ in existence. As such, he can do the impossible quite easily." Ciato just blinked, nodding as he took the information in. The two brothers had quite a power at their disposal. Now he understood why Blue hadn't wanted to kill the Time Lord outright. He must've understood that.

"Speaking of impossible, my head hurts impossibly bad," Fuse stated suddenly, "Can anyone spare some impossibly strong pain relief?" The Mystics just turned to him flatly. Considering the importance of their conversation, asking for pain relief seemed so… mundane. Not that they had any anyway. The Time Lord could've always reversed time if his headache got too bad. Ciato turned back to the Time Lord, completely ignoring Fuse's request.

"Ignoring the puppet for now, just how did the Magic Kingdom know how to make the ultimate being!?" the white-haired Mystic demanded, eyes widening as he spoke, "And what purpose were they trying to serve? A being to cross all six planes. They wanted something more, didn't they?" The Time Lord's smile grew grim, and his expression seemed to fade as he realized that Ciato was right. But he didn't have the answer. Even if he owned the vastness that was time, there were events even he couldn't begin to understand. He looked toward the top of his clock, where the two magicians in question had been. The light still hadn't completely faded yet, so he couldn't even see anything. But their power was still incredible.

"Those two are the only ones who may know why this was," he stated sadly, "And if I've watched them correctly, they both want to block that part of their lives out. Even though they were originally supposed to be just one person, having been separate has caused them to become friends, the best of friends. And they each have their own identities now, too. They don't want to give that up… and they don't want to accept the pain that comes with knowing that technically, they never should've existed." Ciato just let out a heavy sigh, nodding as he too looked up to where the brothers should've been. He understood wanting to block out the pain of one's own existence. And he understood as well the responsibility of having such terrifying powers at his command. To think that Rouge had to go through it…

"Is there any way we can even help them?" Ciato asked. But the Time Lord just smiled weakly, patting the younger Mystic's shoulder.

"They need no help. They've chosen their path already," the old Mystic stated knowingly, "And they're happy with it. Time heals everything. Eventually, they won't even remember why they can fuse together. They'll just know it's possible for when they're in danger again. That is the plus of being human, Ciato. Bad memories eventually fade." Ciato just looked down, wondering just how true that would be.

Eventually, the light at the top of the clock faded, and the room began to return to its own natural brightness. But this time, all of the damage had been healed. The sound of the running machines in unseen rooms was perfectly clear, and somehow seemed to fit amidst the clock chamber. The sand spilled nearly silently within the hourglass, but since Ciato was closest to the clock, he heard every grain make a _tink_ sound as it hit the glass on its way to the bottom. And the sound of the clock itself was audible; Fuse could hear every ticking second that passed on the clock face that kept the hourglass closed. But only one thing was out of place in the chamber now. Neither Blue nor Rouge could be seen, nor did they appear. Zozma looked around everywhere curiously, as he was the first to notice this. He saw running gears and clinking chains in the background; he saw sand spilling within the hourglass. But he saw no magicians.

"Where's Siegfried and Roy?" he asked, raising a brow as he looked at his fellow companions. Ciato blinked, and realized the red-haired Mystic was right. He looked up again, but neither brother was anywhere to be seen. Brows creasing, Ciato unfurled his wings and was about to jump up when Ildon stopped him, shaking his head.

"We shouldn't interfere!" Ildon warned. But as usual, Ciato would have none of his complaints. He yanked his arm away from the green-haired man.

"And you shouldn't be alive, but here you are!" Ciato retorted angrily, "They're friends, and I'm not letting them die because they don't know how to control their output yet!" Then, he jumped away so quickly, that Ildon had no choice but to let him go. Ildon just hung his head and sighed. Sometimes, Ciato was just a nuisance. But he did have a point.

Ciato flew up to the top of the hourglass, and landed on the rim in perfect balance as his black wings fluttered, scattering black feathers everywhere. He looked around as only a thin wisp of the brilliant light remained, in the center of the clock. There, he found not Aubergine, but Blue and Rouge sprawled on the clock face. Both were unconscious. But as Ciato rushed to their sides, he found they were alive. They had pulses. Albeit weak ones. He sighed, brushing Rouge's hair out of his face. That gave him quite a scare, to not see them. He bent to pick Rouge up, and then hesitated. Ildon was still right; he wasn't supposed to help them at all. Then he shook his head furiously. Since when did he ever listen to Ildon anyway!?

"Idiot," the Mystic said gently, picking Rouge up and walking to the edge, "They're okay! I've got them!" In truth, he only had Rouge with him, but as soon as he got the man to safety, he'd go back for Blue. He leapt down, Rouge asleep in his arms, and handed the young magician to Fuse, who took him, and with the Time Lord, walked into the living room. Ciato flew back up and secured Blue, descending again and heading to the living room as well, with the others following.

"Anything else up there?" Fuse asked, as Ildon helped Ciato set Blue on a couch opposite Rouge. Ciato just shook his head, looking at both brothers with slight concern.

"Wisps of light, but nothing aside from them," he replied, and Fuse noted the quietness with which he spoke. Everyone did. But no one dared comment. Even Orlouge understood the delicacy of Ciato's situation. Fuse waited patiently for a few moments, wondering if worry was what had slowed Ciato down. But the man didn't speak again, his eyes focusing entirely on the two mages. Fuse just sighed, and turned to the Time Lord.

"Well, Ciato says the clock didn't look suspicious, so I guess that means it's fixed," he said simply, shrugging, "Anything else we should do before we head back to Virgil and tell him what we found?" The Time Lord motioned for him to wait a moment, and then went to properly lock the Time chamber so that no one else could accidentally get inside. Then he came back and shook his head, sitting on one of the plush chairs that adorned his living quarters.

"I believe we're all set," the old Mystic replied, and then chuckled, "Though I suppose there's an arrest to be made?" He glanced at Philippe, who had remained absolutely silent in awe of the spectacle that Aubergine had made. The noble's face went white. And Fuse's ears just perked at the reminder. He took out his famed handcuffs, and without Blue to stop him, began to recite the necessities for making such an arrest.

"I nearly forgot all about that! Thanks!" Fuse declared, saluting the Time Lord just briefly before snapping the cuffs onto Philippe's wrists, "You are under arrest for vandalism and civil disobedience. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney, and on the off-chance that you can't afford one, which I find highly unlikely, I'm sure we can get someone to represent you in the name of the law." Ciato and Zozma just watched, glancing at each other in amusement. They had both been through this multiple times, and both of them felt sympathy to Philippe for it, too. But neither moved a hand to help him. They wouldn't have been able to stop Fuse, even if they wanted to. Fuse was rarely persuaded to let a crime go.

"_WHAT!?_" Philippe screamed, eyes nearly popping out of his head, "What do you mean, vandalism!? The clock was already broken when I went in!"

"That's what they all say," Fuse reasoned, eyes narrowing as he began to walk Philippe to the 'front door' of the realm.

"No, I'm _serious_!" Philippe cried, "And what civil disobedience!? I attended my brother's court, and I even paid his stupid taxes! What about _my_ rights!? _He's_ the one charging _me_ because of the merchant ships, which I _accidentally_ crashed into! I did nothing wrong!" Fuse's eyes just narrowed further. It was pretty clear he didn't care about any of the excuses Philippe would give him, even if all of them were the truth. Right then, he had a culprit and he was so close to closing a case. He _would_ get his man. Except that the Time Lord was currently walking toward him, too. He cursed. Didn't _anyone_ understand what justice was!?

"I suppose you want to make a closing statement," Fuse grumbled to the old mystic, "Make it quick."

"Fuse, I don't think arresting the poor man is right… yet," the Time Lord stated calmly, an amused smile on his face, "Why don't we go back and tell Virgil that all is well? I'm sure he would like this case wrapped up as much as you." Fuse's scowl just deepened. He _was_ trying to wrap up the case. But everyone else was trying to stop him. Couldn't any of them see how counter-productive they were being? He sighed.

"I'm trying to do that, pal," Fuse replied in frustration, "I'm trying to book the idiot who broke your clock in the first place."

"_IT WASN'T ME!_" Philippe screamed, eye twitching. Fuse just glanced at him, and whacked him upside the head, causing the noble to stagger forward, his braid flipping over his head.

"It's rude to interrupt us," the cop scolded, and turned to the Time Lord, "Why can't I make my arrest!? You practically handed the guy over on a silver platter! What the hell's the problem now!?" Zozma, who'd been watching the entire scene, just snorted and walked over to see what _he_ could do to alleviate the fight. Ciato didn't know just how helpful the red-haired Mystic would be, but he didn't move to stop him. He wanted to see if anything could actually deter Fuse in any way.

"Considering that you have two downed cops, and you still need to give Virgil his rings back, I'd say you have at least three big problems stopping you from going aggro with your handcuffs," Zozma pointed out, "Not to mention that we don't even know Philippe's story. For all we know, he's actually telling the truth." Fuse stopped and thought about that for a moment. Technically, he didn't really give Philippe a chance to redeem himself or prove his story. And technically, Philippe might've been right about the clock. The Time Lord couldn't _prove_ that the noble was the one who'd broken it. A lot of the basis for Fuse's arrest was shaky. He sighed. If he wanted to be the world's best cop, he'd have to do things the right way.

"All right, we'll go see Virgil _AGAIN_," Fuse reasoned, and then pouted, "But he keeps the damn handcuffs on!" No one pressed to complain, save for Philippe himself. After arranging for Ildon and Ciato to move Blue and Rouge, the Time Lord led them through the living quarters, down the halls filled with living monsters that watched their every move, and toward the 'front door' where they'd entered in the first place. This time, the pedestal they'd arrived on was glowing a bright pink to signify that it was working. The Time Lord seemed especially pleased by this, and he motioned for them to get on. Then, with Orlouge's help, he chanted the spell to release the machinations within the pedestal to send them to Virgil's palace. With his renewed youth, it took but a minute to do so.

When they arrived back at the throne room, the first thing anyone noticed as they stepped off the platform and onto the marble floor, was that Virgil was no longer in his throne. The fires in the wall behind the throne had been doused, and the room was dark. The only light came from the platform itself, and when everyone was safely off of it, it simply blew out. Fuse frowned. This really wasn't a good time for Virgil to be stepping out for a coffee break.

"Hello?" Ildon called, as Zozma said, "Yo, Captain America! We got your stupid rings! Where are you!?" Orlouge and the Time Lord looked at each other, both wondering what might've happened to their friend. It wasn't like Virgil to just leave his palace, especially since that would mean it'd be unguarded. Fuse hummed, letting go of Philippe to go and investigate the throne. But there wasn't much he could do. He still couldn't see.

"Where on earth could he have gone?" Orlouge whispered to the Time Lord, "Do you suppose he was harmed?" The Time Lord shrugged. That was a slim possibility. Hardly anything lived in Mosperiburg, save for Suzaku. And the flaming bird was actually a friend.

"Doubt it, but someone might've actually come here," the older Mystic suggested, "Maybe another Mystic. Or maybe even Kylin." Orlouge considered that. But Kylin lived in another dimension, just like the Time Lord did. Why come down here? Either way, everyone got their answer within the next two minutes, for Virgil came back in holding a candle. When he saw them, he nearly jumped back.

"My goodness, I didn't expect you all to be back!" he exclaimed, and smiled, "All went well?" Fuse nodded and was about to speak when Zozma cut him off.

"Well, if you consider losing two mages, bagging a noble, fighting Mystic disputes, and then watching time being reversed 'well,' then yeah, it went fine," the red-haired Mystic stated. Orlouge snorted, and Ciato actually punched the younger Mystic in the stomach, causing Zozma to double over in pain. Virgil just blinked, but didn't dare to ask what Zozma was even talking about. He had a gut feeling that he wouldn't actually want to know. The sight of Blue and Rouge unconscious, with Philippe in handcuffs, and the Time Lord looking centuries younger, told him that Zozma's story rang true. He just chuckled. A long time ago, he would've involved himself in the same antics, too. Walking casually over to the throne, he sat, resuming his normal station as watcher of Mosperiburg.

"Then the realm of Time is fixed, I take it," he stated obviously. The Time Lord smiled, nodding as he stepped forward.

"It's better than that, old friend," the older Mystic said brightly, and then became serious almost immediately, "But we have another problem. It appears that one case has led to another, and I have no time to explain my foolish actions toward taking your rings. All I can do is return them. Forgive me, I wasn't within my right mind." He held out all of the rings to Virgil, who had tilted his head, wondering just how long the Time Lord had aged in the midst of his broken realm. Just one day ago, the man was ranting and raving about nothing in particular, and now, he was completely sane. Virgil just waved the problem away easily, his smile serene as the fire in the wall behind him lit up, casting half of his face in shadow.

"Think nothing of it, my friend. Unlike us, your age is connected directly to the flow of time," Virgil replied gently, and folded his hands in his lap, "Now then, what is the problem?" The Time Lord cleared his throat, not quite sure how to answer. Right then, they had a few problems that dictated where they should go next. But Philippe, ever the impatient one and wishing to be rid of _his_ supposed crimes, stepped in and cut the Time Lord off before the Mystic could even speak.

"The problem is that my older brother's an ass!" the noble declared, and Virgil just sighed as Philippe went on another tangent, "He's raising taxes to pay for ships that I _accidentally_ bumped while driving my boat! _He's_ extorting cash from _me_, and this _basket case_ of a cop is saying it's _my_ fault!" He pointed directly to Fuse, who just raised an amused brow as Philippe explained his side of the story. Virgil just blinked again, his eyes narrowing flatly. As kind and understanding as he was, not even he felt he had the patience to deal with _this_ case. Especially since Philippe wasn't the only one willing to rant. Fuse just shoved Philippe accusingly.

"Hey, technically it is!" the cop retorted, turning to Virgil, "Okay, this is what happened. This _brat_ decided that he didn't want to take responsibility for his actions, so not only did he break and enter into the Time Lord's realm, he also broke the clock, too. So that right there are two strikes against justice."

"_I DIDN'T BREAK THE GODDAMN CLOCK!_" Philippe screamed for what felt like the third time in the last hour. Everyone just stared, unable to believe that the two of them were _bickering_ in front of the three oldest Mystics in existence! And yet, they were. The exchange went back and forth for minutes on end, with Fuse determinedly trying to defend justice, while Philippe continued to plead that he didn't do anything wrong. And it didn't look like it'd end anytime soon. When they finally starting insulting each other outright, Virgil stood up and clapped his hands. And when that didn't do anything, he finally rose his voice.

"_ENOUGH!_" he cried, and immediately, all noise ceased to exist. Even the fire seemed to resist crackling in fear of angering the normally-gentle Mystic as he said, "It doesn't matter who is right. Both of you, refrain from this childish nonsense at once, or leave my palace! Now, does anyone aside from myself have an idea as to what to even do to solve this!?" He wasn't even surprised when everyone _except_ for Fuse raised their hands. Shaking his head in absolute disbelief, he pointed to Ciato and said, "Tell us your opinion." Ciato just snorted, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I think we should skip the justice bullshit and just get to Hahn Nova again," the younger Mystic suggested almost sarcastically, "You know, get the facts straight from the idiot who caused this mess in the first place." Virgil just stared for a long moment. As much as Ciato annoyed him, he had to admit that the guy was brutally blunt sometimes. And he was right. If they were going to solve this case immediately, they had to go right to Hahn Nova and confront Gustave. He sat back down in his throne.

"I'm inclined to agree," he said tiredly, "Now, tell me you're able to get there." This time, Fuse beamed. For once in his life, he could one-up all of the Mystics by raising his hand and saying 'Yes I do!' right in their faces. And not one of them could argue with him, either. He raised his hand high and proud, like a little five-year-old answering their first math question on the first day of school.

"Of course I can! I'm a cop. I have a _plane_," he said proudly. But his pride was short-lived as he looked back and saw that both Ciato and Orlouge had gone pale at the mention of his vehicle. He had a feeling something happened to that plane, and he asked, "What's wrong with you two?" And to his horror, he found he was right.

"That was _your_ plane?" Ciato asked, and when Fuse nodded stiffly, the Mystic laughed and said, "Well… we used a Nightmare from our Phantasm Shot spells… and they _might_ have crashed into your plane when we landed." Fuse's eyes widened in absolute fury, twitching every few seconds to show just how unbelievable such luck could've been. Not only did they destroy his one chance to show Silence that humans would always be better than Mystics, but they would very possibly get him fired for it, too. It wasn't technically his plane, after all.

"You crashed my plane!?" he demanded, and went completely ballistic, "_YOU IDIOTS!_ That's government property! I can't just replace it! Do you have any idea how much one of those things even _costs_!? Damn it, I don't make enough money just to buy the front _tires_, let alone pay for the whole ship! That's it, you two are under arrest for assaulting a cop and destroying government property! And you confessed, too, so don't even try worming your way out of this!" Everyone just glanced at each other, many of them fearing for Fuse's mental stability as he stormed over to Ciato, reaching into his pocket. Unfortunately, he didn't have any spare pairs of cuffs, so in the end, he simply tied Ciato's hands with the Mystic's own hair. Ciato simply winced as the knot was pulled.

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard?" he asked, as Fuse went to try and tie Orlouge up next with the man's own cloak, "We didn't _mean_ to crash, and technically, you violated a parking law. You can't park outside when the person's driveway needs to be cleared of snow. And if you haven't seen, Mosperiburg is _full_ of snow. Your plane would've been in direct violation and confiscated anyway." Fuse opened his mouth to scream again. Then he shut it. Ciato was technically right; Virgil's residence did need to be cleared to park safely. And that point alone would nullify Fuse's arrest. His brows creased as he stamped his foot.

"Damn it!" he hissed, and then grumbled, "We have no way for all of us to get there, Virgil…" Virgil just chuckled. Somehow, he really shouldn't have been too surprised. His smile returned, and he breathed deeply as he beckoned for Fuse to step forward. The cop did so.

"I expected as much from you," the Mystic replied gently, "Therefore, I will allow passage from Suzaku." Fuse's eyes widened. Suzaku!? The _flaming bird of DEATH!?_ Fuse couldn't think of a worse chariot for himself or his two downed soldiers. But he couldn't raise a hand against it. The Mystics would definitely outnumber him in a vote, and all of them could safely ride the phoenix. He just sighed and nodded. Zozma's grin was by far the biggest as he jumped up and rushed to the door leading to the long hallway that wound downwards.

"Hell, yeah! Giant flaming chickens!" the red-haired Mystic declared, throwing the door open, "Come on, everyone! Last one there has to ride on its _foot_." Then he ran out of the throne room, leaving everyone else to stare in absolute bewilderment.

After bidding Virgil a farewell, as well as returning the rings to restore Margmel, Fuse led everyone down the halls and through the front entrance toward where Zozma ran off, with Ildon and Ciato continuing to carry Blue and Rouge. Orlouge and the Time Lord decided to come along, even though the Time Lord no longer needed their assistance; they just wanted to keep the Mystic princes in line, which Fuse knew would be a task worth their weight. They continued on, with Ildon wondering just where Zozma had gone to, when they saw him in the frozen courtyard outside. And he wasn't alone. As though it knew by some mystic force that it was needed, Suzaku was waiting outside patiently, even as Zozma was dancing around it, making a big deal over the phoenix. He stopped only when he saw Orlouge opening the door, with everyone stepping outside after him. Zozma just gave the thumbs-up.

"Tell me this won't be totally awesome!" he dared, as Ciato just grumbled, pushing past him to lay Rouge safely on the bird's back. Ildon wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as he handed Ciato Blue next.

"Oh sure, and when one of us falls and breaks our backs, it's going to be just dandy," the green-haired Mystic stated grimly, "Yeah, I'd love to see you explain to White Rose just how Ciato managed to die." Zozma just chuckled as he clambered onto the bird's flaming back, but Ciato just looked down and glared at his cohort, who was grinning triumphantly. Oh, how he wanted to destroy that grin!

"Why the hell would _I_ die!?" Ciato asked, as Orlouge helped Fuse up next, "I can _fly_, you idiot!" Unfortunately, such obvious facts never worked when it came to putting Ildon down. He crossed his arms, his grin merely widening as the Time Lord jumped up onto the bird. For just a minute, the two opposing Mystics glared, one angry, the other smug. Then, Ildon spoke.

"You can't if I break your wings off," he said, and climbed up as though that were the end of the argument. To which, it was. Ciato _would've_ gladly pushed Ildon off of the bird, but in his extreme excitement, Zozma refused to hear that there was an argument brewing behind him. He took Suzaku's reigns and led the bird upward, where it soared through the clouds, eventually leaving the blankets of snow that seemed to eternally cover Mosperiburg in its winter plight. Fuse simply looked down, watching as the mountains sped right past them, the white blanket beneath soon turning to a pale green, and then to a sandy color as they flew ever westward, toward the coast. Owmi came to view, but they passed it in a simple instance, and sped ever onward, out onto open sea. In the bright sunlight, the ocean was amazing. It shimmered merrily, and the rays even caught onto Ciato's white hair. He merely muttered under his breath, though, even as Zozma just laughed at him tauntingly. Make that _two_ Mystics Ciato wanted to push off and into the water.

"So… how long until we get there, boy?" Fuse asked, knowing that any second, Ciato would actually act on his murderous ideas. Zozma merely grinned, looking forward, where the sea seemed to stretch on forever. No ships were in sight, either in the sea or in the air. That was good. There was nothing to impede them. And the wind was working with them, as well. He gave another thumbs-up.

"Maybe three hours if Suzaku decides to stop for something," he replied, and just for show, angled the bird to continue going upwards, "Hang on tight, my good men!" Unfortunately, the only ones who didn't complain about the man's maneuver was Blue and Rouge. And that was only because they were unconscious. Fuse just let out an audible sigh. This was going to be a very long three hours, especially if no one dared to take Zozma off as the pilot. And it didn't look like anyone would.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

With the Time Lord's realm saved, Margmel will be able to be restored, too. But that doesn't mean crime rests, for as soon as they save the Time Lord's realm, Fuse immediately makes another arrest that will force them to head back to Hahn Nova, where their sequel counterparts dwell. Can they find clues to prove Philippe's innocence, or will there inevitably be a court to send someone from SGF II to prison? Will either Blue or Rouge wake up during the flight there? And will Ciato push both Ildon and Zozma off the bird? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	35. Another SGF II Crossover Chapter

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier I or II. SquareSoft does, and both games, as we all know, are awesome.

The first hour of the journey passed in what Fuse thought of as relative peace. Zozma had learned pretty quickly that it was a bad idea to try loop-de-loops in the middle of the ocean. And that was because Ciato managed to finally shove him off the bird's back, taking the front seat as the pilot. Neither Ildon nor Orlouge raised a hand to help him up, either, so Zozma was forced to fly the rest of the way there, too. But the man wasn't bitter; he soon found such a daunting task to be to his advantage. For, because of his distance, if he made fun of Ciato for any reason, the white-haired Mystic couldn't actually do anything to him. And for Zozma, that was a treat sweeter than chocolate.

"Well, my good men, it looks like this trip's going as right as rain!" he declared, as he watched Blue and Rouge slowly rise from where they had slept. The rest had done them both some good, though he did note they still looked uncomfortably pale. But considering the sheer amounts of power they had produced, that was to be expected.

"Yeah, try telling that to our pounding migraines," Rouge mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Ciato chuckled, patting Rouge on the back as the sea continued to sprawl out beneath them like a soft, blue blanket. He looked forward. No signs of land yet.

"We'll be there shortly. I can sense it, not far from here," But even as he spoke those words, Ciato had a feeling Rouge might not believe him. After all, the sea continued to stretch in all directions. Rouge looked over the bird's shoulder. Indeed, all he _could_ see was the ocean. But he didn't argue with Ciato. Mystics had a keener sense of feeling than humans. He turned to Blue.

"Think Nebelstern will remember us?" he asked, as Blue glanced at him quizzically. The older magician was about to speak, but a laugh behind him directed his attention to Philippe. The brown-haired noble gave a smirk. To Blue, it definitely looked more than a little smug.

"Trust me, the old general remembers you," the noble replied, "He'll be glad there's someone to talk to, who knows just a little bit about the law." Unfortunately, news of this did reach Fuse's ears, and though Philippe was talking more about Blue than any of them, the cop didn't think anyone else could've possibly known more about the law than him. He clicked his blaster, setting it back into its holster and grinned.

"Likewise, tell the good general that I'm looking forward to speaking to him, too!" he exclaimed. Everyone, Philippe included, fell silent at the outburst. No one had the heart to say that Fuse was probably the very last person Nebelstern would've wanted to speak to. And so, Philippe slowly nodded at Fuse, deciding it best to just appease the man's ego than to deflate it.

"I will," the noble mumbled. That seemed to do it for Fuse, and for the rest of the ride, no one else spoke. There wasn't much to talk about that wouldn't end in an argument, and after what had happened in the Time Lord's realm, no one was up to ending a fight, let alone even starting one.

When Suzaku landed nearly an hour and a half later, Rouge opened his eyes and beheld the beautiful shore of southern Hahn Nova. The sun had barely set at all during their flight, and it reflected beautifully off the sparkling water. His mind, however, was still groggy despite the scene; he, as well as many of the others, passed the rest of the trip by sleeping. And though it felt nice to be able to rest, Rouge began to regret it quickly. He wanted to take in everything he could of Hahn Nova. He actually liked it there, and this time he made a note to see if Gustave was still willing to let them live there.

As Ciato, Zozma, and Ildon helped everyone off of the phoenix's back, Blue saw that there was a small troupe of guards coming toward them from the inner city. He turned, and at once saw the figure of the good general, Nebelstern himself. He hadn't changed much since their last encounter, though his hair did manage to grow a bit longer since. And he now sported a pair of glasses, too. He just gave a hearty wave as he approached, and likewise, Blue waved back at him. The older magician walked up the beach to greet the general, with Rouge and Fuse following close behind. The Mystics stayed back, somewhat wary of the flock of guards.

"Hello! Welcome back to Hahn Nova!" Nebelstern exclaimed, smiling brightly. That was, of course, until he saw Philippe. His smile vanished instantly as he said, "Lord Philippe? I did not expect you. I had thought you went oversea."

"So I did. And I came back," Philippe grumbled irritably, his eyes narrowing flatly, "Where's that conniving idiot I call a brother? I have some words for him." Nebelstern paled a bit, not quite sure how to take Philippe's request. He looked at Fuse questioningly, and the older cop shrugged to show he was probably just as flabbergasted as the general, though probably not for the same reason.

"We found him in the Time Lord's realm, trying to erase your boss from time itself," Fuse explained simply, as though that weren't nearly as serious as Nebelstern took it. The general gave a disbelieving stare. Then he looked at Philippe. The nobleman nodded, though his mood didn't seem to get any better despite the truth to Fuse's words. He crossed his arms stiffly.

"Well, maybe if _my brother_ saw the error of _his_ ways, then I wouldn't have had to do that!" Philippe stated in exasperation, "Honestly, he acts like I _mean_ to destroy half his kingdom. And I don't. So let's go and see him. The sooner he hears my complaint, the sooner I can be rid of you and your handcuffs." Luckily for him, Fuse didn't argue the point. Neither of them liked the other very much, and the mere mention of being 'rid of' Philippe seemed to brighten Fuse just fine. Nebelstern, still somewhat bewildered about Philippe's appearance, just led them away from the beach and toward the city.

The city was bustling with activity, and Blue was glad the Mystics decided to follow them inside. If they hadn't, he was quite certain he'd probably never see them again. The streets were packed with merchants, food, carriages, horses, and villagers as Nebelstern did his best to weave through the crowds. It seemed as if everyone from every house, and most probably any neighboring cities as well, decided to come and see just what the merchants happened to be carrying. And it certainly didn't take long to attract Rouge or Zozma, either. Twice, Blue had to calmly take his brother's arm and drag the flustered mage away before he purchased anything, lest he get lost.

"We'll shop _after_ we see Gustave," he said calmly, "We're on a case right now."

"But we're _always_ on a case!" Rouge argued, and Blue found he was actually right, "Come on, bro. I'm hungry. I was just going to get one." Even so, Blue had said they didn't even bring money. And even though Rouge was sure they could just charge it to Fuse's credit card, he knew that if the cop found out, it would probably get them fired. So, after his initial reason, he didn't object. Blue was also right, after all.

"If it's food you'll need, I'm sure Lord Gustave will supply you with lunch on our arrival," Nebelstern said, hoping that calmed the two down, "Of course, he may want to know why you're here in the first place. Especially if Philippe is with you. The two haven't been on good terms lately." Of course, considering Philippe's attitude, that was to be expected. Quite honestly, no one saw how the two were ever really in good terms to begin with. Rouge just looked over at Blue incredulously. There was a mischievous grin on his face, one Blue didn't particularly like.

"I hope we don't become like them," he whispered. Blue sighed in relief. For a moment, he wasn't quite sure what he should've been expecting from Rouge. They turned and went up a gentle rise, and Blue noticed that the large castle in the center of the vast city cast an equally large shadow over the buildings and street they were currently walking past. Everything looked darker, and the air cooler as a result. He actually shivered, and Rouge asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. The shadow's blocking out the heat," Blue replied, and then chuckled, "As for being like Gustave and Philippe, I doubt we need to worry. You haven't destroyed anything of mine… yet." Rouge gulped, knowing that if he did destroy _anything_, Blue would do worse than just sue. Blue would probably kill him. As much as he loved his older brother, Rouge knew just how protective Blue was. Technically, they were the same person, after all. He just nodded, and they continued on as Nebelstern explained the layout of the city to everyone else behind them.

"So what do you think happened that made Philippe so mad, that he's willing to erase his own brother?" Rouge asked, as Nebelstern explained how long the markets were open until, and what they were selling this week. Blue's lips thinned. He'd been wondering that, too. It seemed like such an extreme to go to, just to get back at your own brother. There had to be more to it than just simple bickering. Silently, the magician glanced back at Philippe. He'd need a good defense to go up against Gustave, because Gustave was _known_ for his benevolence. When he wasn't trying to battle through his opposition. And most of that opposition was his own family, anyway.

"He says that Gustave is raising taxes to pay for the boats, so if that's affecting his land, Philippe is going to get mad. It's human nature," Blue finally reasoned, "I'm not sure what he did was the best way to go about it, but we know that anger's a good motivator. And it makes everyone do ridiculous things." Rouge just nodded. That was true enough, but it certainly wouldn't make a good case in court. He looked toward the looming castle. Seeing its walls, black from the shadow it cast, it was hard to believe Gustave was the kinder of the two brothers. The place looked more like a prison than a residence for lordship.

"He's going to need a decent lawyer, no doubt. Especially if he attempts to sue Gustave for emotional distress or something similar," Rouge commented, and glanced at Blue, "I don't think Kelvin's up for it, either. His nose might _still_ be broken from when we had Rita's trial." The incident wasn't remotely funny, but Blue couldn't help but snort. Whether Rita acted that way on purpose or not was never known, but it definitely turned Gustave's court into a circus. And it also broke Kelvin's nose.

"Let's hope we're lucky, then, and Gustave decides to just give in to his brother. Otherwise we might just have a similar outcome," Blue joked. Unfortunately, Rouge didn't find it particularly amusing. He gave his brother a flat look.

"You know, when _we_ used to argue, you never gave me _my_ way," Rouge reminded him, equally as flat as his stare, "You always thought you were right." Blue didn't want to tell him that more than half of the time, he _had_ been right. About more than just a few things, too. Blue just shrugged. He was already letting Rouge have his way by not arguing with him. And if Rouge didn't see that, then that was just fine.

By the time they reached the end of the road, where a closed iron gate stood to protect the castle from intruders, the sun had hidden among the clouds, making the gloom from the shadows of the castle seem even thicker. It also obscured the two guards standing beside the gate, and it was only when their swords flashed as Ciato tried to cross that everyone even saw them. The Mystic screamed, leaping back in fright. Then, when he saw he was being accosted by _humans_, his terror turned to annoyance. Rouge didn't know if a sword could kill Ciato, but he had a feeling that if one did find its way into his back, he'd probably just be really pissed off. He turned and glared at Nebelstern.

"What the hell!? I _thought_ you _welcomed_ us to Hahn Nova!" he exclaimed angrily, brows creased in agitation. Nebelstern chuckled and cleared his throat as he moved toward the two guards. His motions were smooth and collected.

"Yes, but we mustn't allow people to walk into the castle any time they please," the general explained gently, and smiled brightly, "If we were to do so, Lord Gustave would be flooded with constant headaches. As head of his guard, I cannot let such a thing happen. You understand, surely?" Ciato's glare went flat, and Zozma just looked entirely bewildered at the concept of Nebelstern protecting Gustave. After all, _none_ of the Mystic princes seemed to ever want to protect Orlouge _willingly_, and to see a human protect his master was nearly mind-blowing.

"Not really, but we'll take your word on it," Zozma said, shrugging, "Now, my good man, if you'll just let us through, we can get a move on." Nebelstern nodded, and turned to the guard. Neither Blue nor Rouge were close enough to hear what was said, but they both saw Nebelstern was exchanging words with both men. They nodded, and one turned to raise the gate into the castle. When it was fully risen, the two saluted to Nebelstern, and he continued to lead them all into the courtyard of the castle. All seemed so silent as soon as they passed, the gate shutting behind them with a loud clank. Rouge looked around. Not a soul was in sight, it seemed. And that felt very disturbing. He turned to Nebelstern.

"Where _is_ everyone?" he asked quizzically. Nebelstern hummed, walking toward the fountain in the middle of the court. His glasses glinted in the sunlight.

"The entire garrison has left to invade Cantal's territory," he explained, "Hence why Gustave didn't receive notice of your arrival, most likely." Blue and Rouge glanced at each other worriedly. Gustave was currently at war. That didn't sound very promising.

"What the hell happened?" Fuse demanded, and crossed his arms, "IRPO wasn't even informed of this! We could've bagged those guys like _that!_" Nebelstern snorted, and shook his head as he looked into the water. It was clear and fresh.

"Lady Marie and Lord Cantal appeared to have been in a serious argument. Lord Kelvin had gone to visit, and apparently fell off his horse on the way there. Lord Cantal did not wish to keep him infirmed there, but Lady Marie insisted. As you can imagine, it turned into a dispute," Nebelstern said with a sigh, "Marie came back here and told Lord Gustave of it. But he seems to think Cantal hurt his sister, for he ordered an attack immediately." Whatever worry the twins had was gone. This wasn't a war. It was a misunderstanding. A very bad misunderstanding.

"Being infirmed, and fighting with a spouse isn't a reason to order a war," Fuse stated flatly, his hand tapping the butt of his blaster, "You know, I could have Gustave arrested for violating the Law of War Protocols. You know, the one that clearly states that wars can't be waged unless the damages equal over seven billion dollars, or a royal bloodline and/or organization was killed off?" Rouge looked at his boss in disbelief. He was sure whatever Gustave was doing, the man had thought was warranted. Besides, Nebelstern only said the garrison _left_. He never said the army actually fired any shots. But Fuse didn't seem to consider that detail. Blue's lips pursed. They had a little bit of time, but it'd take some careful diplomacy to sort this mess out before they could disperse what they actually came to Hahn Nova for. He decided he had to take action. He was _much_ more diplomatic than Fuse ever would be.

"Why don't we see Gustave?" Blue suggested, both to the general and to the cop, "I'm sure he'll understand what's truly going on."

"Makes me wonder why he didn't have these facts in the first place," Rouge added flatly, looking over at Nebelstern, "Who's the bozo who reported the incident?"

"That would be my sister!" Philippe declared furiously, brows creasing in agitation. Ciato just snorted audibly. Nebelstern cleared his throat, knowing tension wasn't going to go down if he didn't get them in to see his lord soon. He strode across the grass and opened a door sitting underneath a marble arch, allowing his guests to step in. It opened up into a long, sunny hallway, where long windows adorned the walls every few feet. Even in the dark, Rouge was sure there was adequate light here. He had never been in this part of the castle before.

The walk was straightforward. Nebelstern thought it was best that way as he led them down the hallway, and then turned a corner into the main hall. Now they began to recognize the place; the tapestries and the rich hue of gold along the walls couldn't possibly be mistaken. But Rouge did notice there was a stark contrast between this part of the castle and the hallway they had just left; the long corridor was made almost entirely of white marble, and this appeared to let little sun in compared to it. But he found it just as beautiful as he had before. Nebelstern once more led them up the grand oak staircase, and they walked down the familiar hall in silence. Only when they came to the doorway of the audience chamber did they stop and look up. For in the room was the one man who could fix all of the mess they'd just walked into.

Gustave sat in his throne, looking serenely at the group as they entered. He had expected them. Nebelstern bowed and introduced them all formally, though Blue noticed immediately that Gustave's smile faded when he saw his brother. His expression wasn't one of anger, but he did seem rather concerned to have Philippe back in his court. Likewise, Philippe looked like he'd jump out the window if it'd get him out of there any faster. Blue glanced between the two brothers. In so many ways, not so long ago, the encounter would've been similar to when he had been reunited with his own brother. He shivered. Such a comparison scared him. Not because of how Gustave and Philippe were, but because of how similar it had been and could still become. He looked back at Rouge. His twin obviously knew what was going through his head, for he patted Blue on the back.

"While I am glad to see you, little brother, may I inquire as to your presence?" Gustave asked calmly, after he saw that his guests were settled down, "You had said you would be heading out to sea and wouldn't be back for some time now." Philippe just stared at his brother like he was the biggest idiot in the world. And in Philippe's mind, he probably was.

"I did," he agreed, though his tone clearly said he didn't, "And I came back. Are you going to arrest me _aside_ from taxing me!?" Gustave raised a bewildered brow, but he didn't even have a chance to speak before Fuse managed to get yet another unwanted word in.

"Hey, let me remind you that I've already got you in handcuffs!" the cop exclaimed indignantly. Blue just sighed. Whatever hope he did have of ending this gracefully seemed to have been snuffed out. Rouge just snickered, knowing fully that his brother was losing his patience, but being completely unable to do a damn about it. Gustave just blinked slowly, looking from Fuse, to Philippe, and then back again. He didn't really have time for antics, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to back out of this. He sighed, leaning back.

"As glad as I am that someone finally detained my brother, I must ask you remove the cuffs," Gustave began. Fuse wanted to protest, but with hundreds of guards around every corner, he didn't want to take a chance of pissing anyone off. He whined as he unlocked the cuffs, freeing Philippe. Gustave smiled weakly and said, "Now, what is your business? I, unfortunately, am a busy man these days. I don't have much time for free talk." Blue stepped up to quickly state their business, but once again, Fuse managed to beat him to it. Blue grumbled. Fuse was more than likely going to screw this all up and get _them_ locked away. If Blue didn't actually hit him first.

"Good, because we didn't come here for free talk," Fuse replied, feigning disinterest, "Seems like we got us some major booking here. First, we caught your brother attempting to dismantle the planes of Time itself."

"I was exacting revenge!" Philippe corrected. Fuse proceeded to ignore him as he paced in front of the throne.

"And then when we finally manage to arrest him, he barfs out this story about how you're raising taxes unjustly because he smashed your sailboat," Fuse continued on, and looked directly at Gustave now, "I don't know about you, boy, but that sounds like extortion. And the boys back home really don't like that. So unless you two strike a deal, I'm taking you both into my custody." Blue was positive that if no one else blew the cop up, he would. That was more than enough to get all of them blacklisted; Fuse basically implied that he was sending Gustave to prison no matter which way the man turned. Gustave himself looked relatively concerned now. He looked at Philippe. The man seemed so smug, despite being in custody already.

"I believe you misinterpret my intentions," Gustave said slowly, calmly, "I did not raise taxes to spite anyone. I said that perhaps some things should be taxed slightly to help pay for the damages, but most of the revenue will come from donations. Philippe, surely you knew this!" But by the look on the noble's face, he didn't. This wasn't looking good, though Blue _was_ relieved to know that Gustave wasn't trying to extort anything from anyone. Philippe gave a disgruntled snort.

"No. According to my messenger, the taxes were because _you_ were angry with me. I thought you were being a spoiled brat," he stated. Gustave merely shook his head. That was an ironic statement, seeing as how _Philippe_ tried to destroy his very existence and claim it was in justice. All for what, a few hundred crowns? From _other people_? Gustave couldn't see the logic in Philippe's actions. Then again, Gustave couldn't see the logic in many people's actions. He sighed heavily.

"I gave clear instructions. Who was your messenger?" he asked his brother. Philippe perked a brow, and his smug smile returned. Obviously, he felt his messenger's identity was his ace in the hole.

"Narcisse, of course," he said. Gustave glanced at Nebelstern, and it looked as though the good general was going to have a coronary at the mere mention of the name. Rouge even readied a Starlight Heal spell just in case Nebelstern actually did pass out.

"Did you honestly just say you had _Narcisse_ as your _messenger_!?" Nebelstern demanded, and when Philippe nodded, he exclaimed, "How can you stand him!? He's a narcissistic, egotistical bastard!" Philippe just snorted, and Gustave stared at the general in disbelief. In the ten years he'd known Nebelstern, he had _never_ heard the man use such insulting language! Nebelstern never even said the word 'damn' before.

"You must have strong feelings about this," Gustave remarked. Nebelstern nodded, his eyes growing dark as he looked distantly out the window. Fuse just sighed, knowing that sign all too well: any moment, Nebelstern was going to have a flashback. And while Fuse loved it when _he_ recalled his own past, he didn't particularly feel like sitting in a castle and listening to fairy tales. Not when there was justice to be served. Unfortunately, any thoughts of justice had fled from Nebelstern's mind at that point.

"It was a dark, stormy night twelve years ago," the good general began, and as if to bring a dark atmosphere to fit his story, the clouds outside thickened, "I was but a knight in training when I met Cielmer and that bastard, Narcisse. I was supposed to…"

"Look here," Fuse cut in, ruining what Rouge was sure was going to be a funny story, "We don't have time to listen to your stories. We have a case to solve, so why don't you go, get this guy, and we'll see what _he_ has to say about all of this. From the sound of it, this might actually be _his_ fault." Nebelstern wanted to protest, but he saw Gustave seemed to be liking the idea. He just sighed. He knew he couldn't hide from Narcisse forever, though try as he might. He stalked out of the room.

Not even ten minutes later, by which Flynn had come to serve them all drinks, a man in a blue coat, with blonde hair suddenly warped into the room beside Rouge. The poor magician nearly had a heart attack, at first thinking that it was a monster. Then he saw the man; he was handsome, there was no doubt. But his grin held more smugness than Rouge thought was healthy. And he smelled of aristocracy, too. If there was one thing Rouge had learned to hate, both in the Magic Kingdom and in Facinaturu, it was aristocracy. He risked a glance toward Nebelstern as the general slunk back into the chamber. The man looked absolutely miserable to see that, indeed, Narcisse had come.

"Good morning, Nebelstern," Narcisse said, with a familiarity that everyone knew Nebelstern was uncomfortable with, "Are you happy to see me?"

"I'd rather be dead right now," was all the general could get out of his mouth. Fuse glanced at Gustave, knowing that if any justice would be had, it'd have to come from him. Likewise, Gustave took a deep breath and cleared his throat. If they were to have court, no matter how small, he couldn't risk his castle being turned upside down again due to the defendant's actions. He just didn't know exactly _who_ the defendant was: Philippe, or Narcisse.

"Sir Narcisse, my brother tells me you were appointed his messenger," Gustave began, praying to whomever would listen that he had the patience needed, in case Narcisse decided to act up. Narcisse just grinned.

"That's right," he confirmed.

"Do you remember exactly what you told him after you left Hahn Nova?" Gustave asked him. Narcisse tapped his chin in mock thought, and Nebelstern wanted nothing more than to punch his teeth out. The damn bastard knew _exactly_ what he had said to Philippe. Fuse caught Nebelstern's look. And as much as he liked the general, if it came down to a physical brawl, he'd have to put the man away for assault. He just hoped Nebelstern understood this.

"Oh, so many things happened, it's hard to remember _what_ was said!" Narcisse finally exclaimed, "I'm afraid, my good lord, I don't remember much of that night. I was out at the tavern after your brother so generously paid me." Rouge's lips thinned. Even the man's voice sounded smug. He glanced at Blue, but both brothers were having a hard time figuring out how to coax the information from Narcisse. Surely, he must've known. And by the way Zozma was suddenly storming up, he didn't believe Narcisse was as clueless as the man was letting on, either. He grabbed the smaller human by his collar, hoisting him off his feet.

"Okay, I'm not one for physical force, but cut the crap and tell us what you know!" Zozma demanded, "I don't like it here, and I don't like you, so tell us the truth or I'm sending you to hell!" Narcisse struggled, not used to being handled in such a violent way. He'd always been able to get out of things like this, but Zozma was a Mystic. And Mystics _knew_ if you lied. Fuse and Nebelstern ran to intervene; if Narcisse died, even accidentally, they'd never really know how this mess started. And no one wanted Gustave and Philippe to be at war over this.

"Hey, soldier, drop the man!" Fuse yelled, as Nebelstern pried Zozma's fingers off of Narcisse's neck. The human dropped to the floor meekly, gasping for the air he was deprived just a moment before. Fuse looked down at Narcisse, and then spun on Zozma, "What the hell did you think you were doing!?"

"I _think_ I was about to get the truth," the red-haired Mystic replied in annoyance, crossing his arms, "I almost did if you hadn't stopped me." Fuse's eyes narrowed flatly as he regarded Zozma. Sure, physical force was a good way to get information, but there was a difference between coaxing and downright strangling. Another minute, and they all were sure Narcisse would've been dead. Fuse shook his head.

"Killing people isn't the way we do things around here," the cop told him seriously, "Next time, leave the coaxing to me." Zozma just snorted, and Blue didn't blame him. Fuse wasn't exactly Justice McGee; he'd definitely have done the same thing if _he_ were put in a situation he didn't like. He was the same man that nearly mowed down ten pedestrians just because they were 'in his way.' But Blue didn't point that out. They still had problems to attend to, after all. Fuse turned back to Gustave and asked, "Want me to interrogate him?" Gustave rubbed his aching head tiredly.

"I don't care, just as long as someone gets the truth out so we can reconcile this," he muttered, leaning back in his seat. Flynn brought him another drink, which he took and sipped. Fuse just turned back and helped Narcisse to stand. The man dusted his blue coat off and snorted indignantly.

"I should have that Mystic arrested for nearly breaking my neck," he grumbled. Fuse took a deep breath and nodded at him.

"It won't happen again, or he's going to jail," the cop promised, and then said, "But seriously, we need the truth. What _did_ you say? And if you lie, you're going to jail, too." Narcisse shivered. He had never been to prison before, but he heard rumors about it. He didn't want to end up in a prison anywhere around Hahn Nova. Likewise, he was fairly certain the prisons toward the east would be even worse. He'd have to come clean.

"I told him his brother rose the taxes to pay for the boats," he replied, and shrugged, "That's basically what I heard. I didn't exactly _lie_."

"But did you tell him _why_ I did it and _what_ would be taxed?" Gustave asked flatly, knowing the answer already. The mere fact that Philippe would travel to a different plane proved that he hadn't heard most of the actual facts. Narcisse's grin returned again. And considering his circumstances, Rouge thought that was a very stupid move.

"I didn't think those menial, little facts were important," Narcisse said smugly, "All he needed to know was that he was taxed and that was it." Rouge looked at the man in disbelief. He wasn't even remotely sorry for causing such a rift between the two nobles. In fact, he seemed to be _enjoying_ how this was playing out. It all seemed so wrong.

"Yeah, but you caused a near-war to break out!" Rouge exclaimed in exasperation, "And you almost destroyed Gustave in the process! What else did you do, tell everyone that Gustave was taking the money for himself!?" Narcisse's grin just widened a little bit more. That was answer enough. Rouge shook his head and said, "I can't believe this!"

"Next he's going to tell us he's the reason Gustave and Cantal are at war," Nebelstern added sarcastically. But then he actually saw the look on Narcisse's face; it was both smug and a little sheepish. Nebelstern's mouth dropped. He _knew _that look too well. He practically yelled, "That was _you_!?"

"Guilty as charged," Narcisse said quietly. Even Philippe, at one time so smug and conceited himself, seemed unnerved by Narcisse's apparent unconcern for what he had done. He turned to his appointed messenger, unable to believe that everything happened because of a _lie_.

"How the hell did you do _that_!?" he asked, referring to Cantal and Gustave, "And why did you lie to _me_!?" Narcisse snorted as he looked away. This was too amusing to him. This was _exactly_ what he wanted.

"Why else would I do it? I was _bored_," the man said with a shrug, "It wasn't hard, either. All I had to do was forge your sister's name, and that was it. I didn't even know her handwriting was that sloppy." This time, Philippe twitched. This just wasn't his day. When he came here, he had been so _certain_ he was right, and now this was all blowing up right in his face. Which was what Narcisse probably planned for. Now he wished he'd gone to the Time Lord's realm to erase _Narcisse_ instead of Gustave.

"Boss, can we arrest him for any of this?" Rouge asked Fuse, looking over his shoulder at the older cop. Fuse was already one step ahead of him, and was looking in his tiny rule book to see if Narcisse broke any laws. The laws for Hahn Nova, unfortunately, were different than back in Manhattan. After ten minutes of searching, by which Philippe was ready to rip his hair out, Fuse closed the book and shook his head. They were out of luck for once.

"We can't exactly arrest him because this didn't really benefit him in any way," the cop said. Philippe moaned miserably, and Gustave hummed, shifting in his seat. This had to be troubling them both. Fuse held up one hand. There _was_ a shred of hope. Just one. "However, you _can_ file a lawsuit since there's damage done to both parties. False information is still false information, and we personally can't bag him, but if you sue, then that's another story." Blue frowned. He did _not_ like where this could be leading. Likewise, Philippe wasted no time in taking Fuse's suggestion. He pointed accusingly at Narcisse.

"Fine! Then I want to sue him for lying to me and insulting my sister!" he cried out, "I want him dead!" Gustave just looked at his brother in disbelief. That was a risky move to make; Narcisse seemed smart enough to weasel his way out of this, and if he looked bad, Philippe might be the one going to jail. He leaned forward in his throne.

"Brother, are you _sure_ you want to do this?" he asked calmly, "Court isn't a playground. You won't just win because you're right." Philippe didn't seem too worried for that, though. He waved the problem away.

"You're the judge. I know you'll see things my way," Philippe said confidently, and grinned. Gustave, however, wasn't flattered with the comment. While it was true he was the judge, he couldn't just award Philippe the case solely with that fact. Besides, there was a chance there was more merit to Narcisse's decision than the man led on. He had to be fair, no matter how unfair that seemed. He shook his head.

"It doesn't work like that. Just because I'm family doesn't mean I can rig the court so we win," Gustave replied seriously. Fuse snorted.

"Besides, that's against the law, too. If he does it, I'm booking him for conspiracy," the cop added unhelpfully. Everyone chose to ignore him. Philippe had to think carefully indeed, then. If Gustave wasn't willing to cheat, this really wouldn't be as easy as he thought. But he'd go through it anyway. Narcisse needed to be jailed. At least, he did in Philippe's mind.

"I'm still doing it," he said firmly. Fuse just shrugged and turned away, and Gustave leaned back, rubbing his forehead again. This was going to be a very, very long night. But there wasn't much he could do. If they were going to get any of these cases done, he'd have to cater his brother's ridiculous idea. It wouldn't have been the first time. He turned to Flynn.

"Go alert Kelvin, Leslie, and master Cielmer that we're going to have court," he said, "And don't ask Marie or Cantal to join. This concerns them." Flynn gave a nod, and ran out of the chamber with the news. Then, Gustave turned to the others. If this was a proper court, they'd need bailiffs, jurors, and an audience. And while he knew not one of the people present could suit either the first or second need, more than half could be the audience. And when he relayed the idea, everyone save for Fuse went for it. But he had no choice but to relent. After seeing how Kelvin fared as the prosecutor, he certainly didn't want to take the job. So, along with the rest of the people he'd dragged along, Fuse just sat in the pews. And with that, the wait for the rest of Gustave's court began.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

After making it more or less safely to Hahn Nova, our heroes now find themselves amidst an entire scandal that's plaguing the entire SGF II world! Unable to really participate, except maybe to testify on Philippe's behalf, it's a wonder if anything will actually be solved for this case. With Gustave as judge, and Narcisse on the defense, can anyone untangle this horrible web of lies the latter created? Or will this be one case that neither Fuse, Blue, nor Rouge could solve? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	36. Gustave's Version of Justice

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the SaGa series. SquareSoft does. It makes me sad that they don't see the lack of fanfictions for it, too.

Court began almost immediately that day. Kelvin, Leslie, and Cielmer were all in Hahn Nova that time of year, so it took nearly no time at all for them to arrive in Gustave's palace for the trial. The sudden news also attracted the attention of many of the townsfolk, so by afternoon, the court room was already bursting at the seams with too many people wanting to attend. Gustave had to pick and choose the jurors by hand, as well as the bailiff, and after settling for Johan as the bailiff, with Wil Knights and his team as the jurors, he basically let everything else alone, not even caring who chose to actually try and defend Narcisse. As if the man wanted anyone defending him. Since Kelvin once again decided to risk his cracked nose to be prosecutor, Narcisse didn't think he'd need an attorney to take the young lord down. But Cielmer didn't agree, and it was the old teacher himself who took charge for Narcisse.

"How badly do you think this will go?" Rouge whispered to Blue, as they watched Cielmer speaking to Narcisse. Blue looked at the two men curiously, and shrugged. As long as Narcisse wasn't like Rita had been, it couldn't be too terrible. Except that obviously, Narcisse had a thing for lying. And generally just being in everyone's way.

"No one will die. That much I can probably guarantee," Blue told him simply. Rouge snorted. Judging by the exhaustion scribbled on Gustave's face, that wasn't a guarantee to be granted. The man looked ready to fall over, but that might be more to stress than to actually being tired. After all, with a war with Cantal being tempered by a scandal he didn't even know about, Rouge wouldn't have been too surprised if the man's blood pressure was a bit too high. Rouge's lips thinned.

"Then you might want to ready a Starlight Heal, because our good king doesn't look like he'll make it," the younger mage whispered, to which he received a hushing noise from Orlouge. Gustave had just risen, and the entire room fell silent on his march. Now he looked grim; the calm visage from before seemed to have cracked with the urgency of the trial. But it did nothing to make Narcisse afraid. It was getting clear that Narcisse was an idiot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending this trial," Gustave began, "Today, we have learned of a plot, not unborn to mere boredom, that may risk the lives of Hahn Nova, nay of the kingdom of Finney itself. And we have in hand the culprit. A man by the name of Narcisse Rothbury." Everyone around the entire room stared at Narcisse, and Wil's mouth dropped open in utter disbelief. Evidently, Narcisse wasn't known for causing destruction everywhere he went. But he took it with a grin, anyway.

"What the hell did he do!?" one man with a mohawk sitting next to Wil asked, "Did he insult another aristocrat?" Kelvin snorted. That more or less was the case, according to the briefing Gustave did give them. But that wasn't what started it. And unfortunately, Narcisse wasn't fond of being labeled like that.

"Hey, I was _doing my job!_" the man declared angrily, against the advisement of his mentor and lawyer, "It's not my fault my employer didn't ask for the exact details!"

"I told you to _tell me what my brother said!_" Philippe cried back, and Blue just shook his head. Now he saw why Rouge had been concerned. This would probably go even _worse_ than Rita's trial. The woman was a bitch, but she didn't act up until the end. Narcisse wasn't even giving anyone that comfort. And it was clear that he wouldn't be doing so any time soon, either. He glared at his former employer.

"I _did_," he pointed out, "I _told_ you he raised taxes, because that's what he said." Blue just snorted. Technically, Narcisse was right. He was much better at this than anyone thought; Philippe might just lose the case to him.

"Yeah, but did you say _why_?" Johan unhelpfully asked, even as Gustave glared at the younger man. Narcisse just grinned smugly. That answer was obvious; if he had, they wouldn't even be in court. Leave it to Gustave to pick idiots for the trial. Gustave himself just tapped his sword on the ground with a mighty clang. Everyone looked at him curiously. He stared back flatly, and quite frankly, Blue couldn't blame the man for being a little upset.

"I demand _some_ level of order in my court or all of you will be dismissed," the lord stated tiredly, and turned to Kelvin, "Please, go first, my friend." Kelvin nodded, and turned back to Narcisse. He saw why Nebelstern hated the man so much; his grin was ten miles wide at that point. Kelvin swallowed hard. He'd have to play it cool to gain any leverage against someone so damn cocky. He took a breath, and walked toward Narcisse's table.

"Is it true Philippe hired you to attend Gustave's court on his behalf?" the young lord asked. To which Narcisse had an unsurprisingly smug response.

"_Hired_ is more or less a general term. He practically begged anyone to face his brother, and I happened to show up first," the older man replied. And unfortunately, that did count as an answer. Kelvin saw Philippe's face pale a bit, too. Narcisse must've spoken some level of truth, after all. Kelvin turned to Gustave.

"I call Lord Philippe of Finney as my witness!" he declared. Gustave did little more than wave his assent, and Philippe went to the seat next to the throne, where Johan gave his typical 'do you swear' speech. Blue began to see why Gustave hated court and trials so dearly; only Nebelstern seemed to take justice relatively seriously.

"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so you won't land in prison?" the young assassin asked, holding out what looked like a bible for Philippe to swear on. The noble nodded, and Johan shrugged, saying, "Good enough for me. Take a seat." Gustave just watched flatly, and Kelvin seemed completely certain that, after Rita's antics, no one took anything in his friend's courtroom seriously anymore. He decided to help Gustave and make the case short.

"Why did you hire Narcisse specifically?" he asked Philippe bluntly, getting right to his point, "You do know he's not entirely popular with the people. It could have hurt your position to work with him."

"Don't forget that he's a pompous asshole, too!" the man with the mohawk added, and Wil smacked him on the head.

"Shut up and let them do their job, Tyler!" he hissed, and Kelvin proceeded to ignore them, waiting for Philippe's answer patiently. Philippe twisted his scarf a little, nervously. Obviously, the answer wasn't an entirely good one.

"He worked under Master Cielmer for some time, and the good man was my brother's teacher for nearly five years at that point," Philippe answered, and Kelvin's eyes widened in disbelief. He quickly turned to Narcisse and Cielmer, the latter of which seemed grim to admit that fact.

"He… he _did_!?" Kelvin exclaimed. Nebelstern grunted, crossing his arms impatiently.

"I _tried_ to tell you all this, but _someone_ decided to interrupt," the general grumbled, looking pointedly at Fuse. The cop just blushed in embarrassment. So the story was going to be useful, after all. Then he just shrugged. It wasn't his fault that they didn't exactly have time to waste. Kelvin just looked at Gustave, wondering what he should do, knowing that Cielmer's credentials were pristine. Gustave looked equally perplexed in that subject; they'd have to wing it. Kelvin turned back to Philippe.

"Did you try and contact your brother when you heard taxes were being raised?" the young lord asked, raising a brow. That, first and foremost, was probably the most important question of all. Philippe blinked slowly.

"I sent Narcisse out with a message," he said quietly, as though realizing exactly where this went wrong. Kelvin nodded knowingly. He knew exactly what had transpired, and Philippe's face proved it. He looked up to Gustave and said, "No more questions, your honor." Gustave nodded and motioned for Cielmer to go next. The old teacher sighed, knowing that Narcisse indeed did a very, very bad thing. And he didn't want to defend him from justice for it, either. But he did. He stood up and took Kelvin's place in front of Philippe.

"Lord Philippe, if you knew Narcisse was questionable, why on earth did you choose him?" Cielmer asked calmly, "Surely, within Finney, there must have been _someone_ who was more trustworthy, right?" Philippe opened his mouth to speak, but Zozma cut in, much to both Cielmer's and Kelvin's annoyance.

"_OBJECTION!_" the red-haired Mystic yelled, "That's the same damn thing Kelvin just asked!"

"I'll allow it," Gustave said, and waved for Philippe to answer.

"Considering that my idiot of a brother _ruled_ Finney and is practically our world's _hero_, do you honestly think anyone besides myself would go against him!?" the noble snapped, and crossed his arms, "I needed someone who didn't actually care what happened to Finney, so long as they were able to deliver a message. One _tiny_ message!" Unfortunately, the nature of the trial was anything _but_ tiny. Mainly because Narcisse started the whole war between Cantal and Finney in the first place. This time, at least. Gustave took a deep breath and looked down at his brother.

"You realize that was probably the worst requirement to make, don't you?" the older lord asked blandly, raising a slightly amused brow, "That very statement just blew the door open for a revolt, Philippe." Philippe's frown worsened and turned to a dark scowl as he regarded his older brother.

"But no one would complain about your taxes!" Philippe cried, throwing his arms up, "And they're ridiculous! Twenty crowns for a _steel sword_, which _reduces all traces of anima!_ I wouldn't pay that much to a highwayman let alone to _you!_" Gustave grumbled. Philippe had a right to be mad, but now he was just making an ass of himself. And he was helping Narcisse, too. And even more unfortunate, Fuse finally decided to screw Finney decorum. The old cop stood and pointed his blaster at Gustave.

"So there _was_ extortion! Soldier, you're going to jail for that! Not even a Zero Sword is worth that much, and those are the strongest blades the boys back at home have!" Fuse exclaimed. Gustave's expression couldn't have gone flatter at that point. He looked at Nebelstern, and the general nodded, walking over to where Fuse was. The old cop half-expected to be decked in handcuffs, but was surprised to find Nebelstern wasn't moving to get them out. He leaned close to Fuse instead.

"There's no extortion. Stop making a fool of yourself and let us handle this!" the general hissed. Fuse just shrugged and sheathed his blaster as he sat down, crossing his legs.

"Fine, but you're doing a shitty job, if you ask me," came the annoyed reply. Blue glared angrily at Fuse as Nebelstern walked away, but Fuse seemed at relative peace. Blue's anger quickly turned to confusion. What was the point of _that_ interruption? Blue looked around; Rouge didn't appear to have noticed, and none of the Mystics were paying attention to Fuse, either. Did Fuse deliberately disrupt the court? Blue's brow rose.

"Sir, what's going on?" he whispered so only Fuse heard. The old cop gave him a knowing smile. It _was_ done purposely.

"Listen to what Nebelstern said, soldier. 'There's no extortion,' means that the steel swords ain't that much money," Fuse explained quietly, "My guess is, that's another lie fabricated by Narcisse." Or perhaps Philippe had been right. But Blue didn't argue that point. It wasn't like Fuse would listen, though his theory did have merit as well. Blue just turned to where Narcisse and Cielmer sat. Narcisse seemed just as confused as he had been but a moment before. Perhaps Fuse's efforts were for naught, after all.

"Lord Philippe, where on earth did you hear that swords were that costly?" Cielmer asked him with a raised brow, "My client says not even he knew the price of steel nowadays." Philippe blinked. By the looks of it, he didn't remember who told him the price either. Or perhaps, no one even had. He turned to Gustave.

"I saw it on sale at one of your shops for twenty two crowns," he told his brother, "That's the most ridiculous price I've ever seen."

"But did you _buy_ the sword?" Cielmer asked, before Gustave had a chance to speak. Philippe turned and shook his head, crossing his arms as he sat forward.

"Absolutely not! As I've said, that's highway robbery!" the lord answered bluntly. Cielmer sighed. That had nothing to do with the case at present. He took another breath and paced around just once. Then he asked another question, hopefully one that might help Narcisse break free.

"Sir, do you even know what taxes were put _on?_" he asked, and Blue saw Fuse grin a little, "Did you know the difference between what was taxed and what was on demand?" Unfortunately, that question didn't seem to upset Philippe. It just made him a little annoyed. He snorted.

"You're telling me to believe that it's perfectly normal for tea to cost two crowns one day and ten the next," Philippe retorted harshly, "That's tax. I'm no idiot. I know tax when I see it. I just want to know why in hell my own _messenger_ would lie."

"Don't forget to ask why he started a war, too," Ciato grumbled, to which Ildon nudged him in the ribs. He fell in his seat, and Cielmer cleared his throat. In his want to actually defend Narcisse, he'd forgotten that rather important detail. That was, after all, pretty much why they were on trial. He risked another glance at his client; Narcisse had paled a bit.

"All right, then. Did you believe that this skirmish had anything to do with taxes?" Cielmer asked Philippe, who shook his head.

"No. I thought it was because I accidentally sank Gustave's ships over in Hahn's Harbor," the lord replied. Cielmer blinked. Now he wasn't too sure where he should be going with this case. There seemed to be way too many things that didn't fit in at all. He glanced up at Gustave, who seemed eager to get this court over with. He felt the need to help his old student along.

"And how exactly did you manage to do that?" the older teacher asked slowly, trying to get what he could together to end this gracefully. His tone sounded like he couldn't even believe Philippe did manage to do that, and quite frankly, no one could blame him. Boats, after all, were huge. Especially when owned by the aristocracy. It'd have to be a pretty bad accident to sink one. By accident, of course. Philippe blinked slowly, and leaned forward to answer. Blue noticed he looked a little worried now. This _had_ to be good.

"Last week, I was visited by a magical goat," the noble began, and Kelvin's mouth dropped as Narcisse burst into hysterical laughter, "I'm serious! This goat had a green mane, and said its name was Kylin!" At that point, Narcisse abruptly stopped laughing, and silence seemed to fall all around as the Mystics within the room all rose, like one ominous presence. Blue felt the room shake, just a little, from the rage emanating from their Mystic friends, but said nothing about it. Cielmer turned to Orlouge, wondering what was wrong. And likewise, Gustave seemed just as concerned. He tilted his head.

"Be there a problem?" he asked calmly, losing all trace of annoyance when he saw the disharmony being caused. Every Mystic nodded, this time their unison broken. But it was the Time Lord who spoke first. His voice, though calm and smooth, was undeniably shaken with the mention of Kylin.

"Kylin, my liege, is the Lord of the plane of Space," the Time Lord explained, "To be visited by him is both an honor and a worry to be sure. Many a time, it is the latter. Why would he visit your own brother?" Gustave looked down at his brother, who fidgeted nervously. Obviously, the man hadn't thought this was such a big deal.

"I'm interested to know this as well," Gustave stated seriously, and leaned back in his seat. He waved to gesture Philippe into telling his tale. Philippe cleared his throat, knowing that the fate of the court was on his shoulders; mainly, if he didn't talk, the Mystics might actually slaughter everyone there. And as much as he liked causing Gustave trouble, he hated having to rebuild another city because of his actions.

"He said something about needing a vessel for a while," the noble explained simply, "Something about the voids getting screwed up. He said I can use a new kind of anima, and what do you know, I can. I waved a hand and called 'Meteor,' and Gustave's ships went down." Now Narcisse's mouth dropped. But not with worry, nor with any immediate concerns for the populace at large. No, now he was _envious_. _He_ wanted that magic, because he thought he was a decent magician. Which, unfortunately, he was. He stood up, even when Cielmer motioned for him to sit.

"That's not fair!" Narcisse declared, as Zozma exclaimed, "Kylin actually _gave_ you his magic!?" Philippe nodded, looking at the young Mystic.

"Is that a bad thing?" the noble asked timidly. Ciato snorted, crossing his arms.

"Not if you _like_ risking the voids of space collapsing in on you," he grumbled sarcastically, and then said, "If I were you, I'd get his ass back here and take that magic back before you murder someone with it." Blue and Rouge both turned to the white-haired Mystic flatly, eyes narrowed.

"He already murdered whoever happened to be _on_ those ships," Rouge pointed out. But of course, that wasn't much of a concern for Ciato. He just snorted again, smirked, and looked away as if the wall had something far more interesting to see. In Ciato's mind, that very well might've been the case. Except that Fuse once again jumped out of his seat, pointing an accusing finger at Philippe. Blue had the urge to slice that finger off.

"That's as good as a confession!" the old cop cried, "He murdered everyone on those ships! Tell me we can book him for that!"

"Oh, would you just shut up and let these _idiots_ do their damn jobs!?" Ciato asked, throwing his arms up, "This isn't an Agatha Christie novel! The Space Lord _gave some HUMAN his power!_ That's not a good thing, but hey, if you want our world to end, who the hell am I to stop you!?" Blue didn't say how contradicting that was, but it managed to somehow produce the desired effect. Fuse shut his mouth and quietly sat back down. The Time Lord looked from the flustered cop, back to Philippe, and then to Cielmer. The poor man was lost for words; learning the identity of a lord of another plane must've gone far beyond his scholarships. And as much as manners counted, the Time Lord had to risk disrupting the court again. He stepped out of the audience, toward Gustave.

"Sir, I believe this is an element we've not counted on," the Mystic began calmly, and bowed, "May I ask that court is adjourned?" Unfortunately, as much as Gustave respected the Mystics, he had to decline. The court wasn't called because of Philippe's boat wrecks. Kylin was an unrelated incident entirely. He shook his head.

"Not until we sort the mess with sir Rothbury first," the good lord said solemnly, "Let us continue." Cielmer didn't respond, and it took Kelvin nudging him before he realized he had been spoken to. He nodded, and turned toward Philippe again, clearing his throat.

"So, you had no ill will when you destroyed an entire merchant fleet?" he asked, almost amused as he worded his question. Even Kelvin managed a good snort, until Gustave glared at him darkly. Kelvin understood the unspoken threat, and looked away. Rouge still saw that he was silently chuckling. And he decided not to report the young lord. Philippe shook his head before speaking.

"None," was the reply, and then Philippe grumbled, "Not until taxes were raised, anyway." Cielmer hid a snort. That was only expected. He motioned that he was done questioning Philippe, and Gustave bid his brother to step down from the stand. Then it was Kelvin's turn again, and this time he pointed to Narcisse.

"I call Narcisse to the stand!" Kelvin declared, and no one objected. Narcisse walked up to where Johan waited, and Gustave was disgruntled to see that his bailiff hadn't gotten any more eloquent since court began as he brought out his bible again.

"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so you don't get arrested?" Johan asked, and added, "And don't think about lying about lying, either." He didn't miss Gustave's flat look, and grinned when Narcisse agreed. Then he walked the older man to the chair, and all but strapped him in when Narcisse sat down. The confused defendant looked around at everyone as Johan constricted his arms to the arms of the chair. And his brow rose.

"Is this honestly necessary!?" he demanded, realizing he was indeed being detained. Johan looked up at him and nodded.

"It's to make sure you don't go off and kill us with Incinerate," the young would-be assassin replied, and gave the thumbs up, "As soon as I chain your legs, we're right as rain."

"I don't remember this ever being part of any court, good sirs!" Narcisse cried, brows suddenly creasing at the news, "I demand proof of this! I won't stand for this unfair treatment!" Unfortunately, Gustave wasn't even sure what he should've taken seriously. Johan was, after all, a trained assassin. He seemed to know what he was doing, and he knew better than to kill Narcisse. The man was safe. Sort of.

"Rest assured you probably won't be killed this way," was all the tired lord said, and Narcisse squirmed as he tried to escape his bonds. Johan snapped another chain to seal the rope binding the man to the chair, and gave another thumbs-up before running off to join the crowd. And that's when Blue saw Fuse wipe away a tear. It was a tear of absolute pride.

"Now _that's_ what I call an 'arrested development!" the old cop said proudly, "Now we might actually get some answers from this guy!" Blue wasn't so sure of that, but he didn't dare to argue right then. Kelvin blinked slowly as he saw just how much Johan tied Narcisse up; the man could barely move let alone try and run off. He almost felt bad. Except that he knew what Narcisse did was technically wrong. Even if nothing bad happened yet.

"All right. If we're going to understand your motive, we should probably see what you were doing before being employed," Kelvin reasoned calmly, pacing before Narcisse, "What were you doing before you'd been hired by Finney?" Narcisse rose his brow again, giving a half-smile.

"Motive? Didn't I just say I did this because I was _bored_?" he asked, to which Kelvin gave a sigh, "I'll humor you. I was in the bar in Westia, as usual, watching Tyler get drunk."

"_I WASN'T DRUNK, YOU BASTARD!_" the juror named Tyler retorted, to which Wil smacked him again. Narcisse's grin grew smug. That was practically an alibi. Kelvin just chuckled and continued on.

"How on earth did Philippe find you?" he asked, half amused by Tyler's outburst. Narcisse's grin hadn't faded. Kelvin wasn't too surprised by that; the man seemed to have an answer for everything, and if he didn't, his friends were more than willing to provide one, albeit unwillingly.

"Why don't you just ask him?" the man countered smugly. Blue was certain that if he wasn't strapped to a chair, Narcisse would've crossed his arms. He was the epitome of confidence right then. Too much confidence. Kelvin's normally gentle expression went nearly as flat as Gustave's. It was clear he wasn't in the mood to play Musical Defendants, either. He leaned against the table.

"Because I've asked you, and if you won't answer, you get to visit prison," Kelvin told him, his serious tone contrasting his expression, "Take your pick." Narcisse wasn't so vain that he didn't get the threat. He nodded accordingly, his smirk fading. He tried to wave the tension away… except that he remembered Johan strapped him into the chair. He grumbled.

"Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea how the Lord of Finney managed to find me," the man said truthfully, attempting at what Blue thought was a shrug, "My guess is, he entered hoping to find someone worthy to be his messenger."

"So he actually _went_ into the bar?!" Tyler demanded, "I didn't even see him!"

"That's because _you_ were drunk," Narcisse replied, his grin returning. Gustave tapped a tiny gravel, and everyone looked over at him, many of them annoyed that _he_ would interrupt _Narcisse_, as if this _wasn't_ his court. Except that it was. Meaning he had every right to interrupt the disorder.

"You both spoke out of order, so keep it in line or next time I'm arresting you both," the good lord said, and Tyler obediently sat. He didn't even need to look to know Narcisse was sitting; the man's binds prohibited any other movement anyway. Rouge looked over at Fuse.

"Can you really be arrested for speaking out of turn?" he asked, and Fuse nodded, a grin forming across his face. He leaned back casually, crossing his arms as he watched the scene unfold before him. Blue noted he looked cocky. Heavens only knew why.

"Oh yeah. In fact, in many old cultures, interrupting a ceremony was usually resolved with death," Fuse replied, which may have been true… more or less, "So, in actuality, Gustave could probably kill them both for their shenanigans." Blue just shook his head, not sure if he should even believe whatever happened to be dribbling from Fuse's mouth. Rouge just stared at their boss flatly, unable to believe him either.

"Wouldn't you have to arrest _him_ for murder?" the young magician pointed out, and the grin Fuse had merely widened. Which was another way of saying 'exactly.'

"That's how life works, sometimes. The very thing that allows him free reign is what'll put him in jail if he's not careful," Fuse said, almost happily, "That's why you have to be careful with power. It could really be a detriment to you." Blue was almost tempted to point out that Fuse abused his power nearly all the time, but with Fuse, there wasn't much anyone could do to point out his mistakes. Blue just nodded and turned back to watch the court. At this point, Kelvin had asked Narcisse what happened when Philippe did hire him. And the answer was, unfortunately, very little.

"He summoned me out of the blue and ordered that I come directly to his palace," Narcisse said, "Honestly, I have no idea why he chose me. I really don't. For all I know, he could've dropped my name in a hat and picked it at random." Kelvin blinked, having no idea how he was supposed to be reacting to that. He looked over at Gustave. The man seemed equally confused. Even Cielmer seemed at a loss as to where to head from there. Biting his lip, Kelvin decided another tactic. Unfortunately, with a case like this, he was running out of those rather quickly. He took a breath.

"All right. Let's get back to motive," the young lord decided, clapping his hands together once, "You said you were bored. What were you hoping to actually accomplish by starting a war?" Narcisse just stared at Kelvin like he was the biggest moron in the world, and Blue had to admit that the answer was pretty obvious. There really wasn't much to accomplish on Narcisse's part. In anyone's case, there wasn't much to accomplish period.

"I think dissipating my boredom pretty much sums it up," Narcisse answered loftily, shaking his head to clear his hair from his face, "Listen, does it matter who said what? We're not accomplishing anything here, so why not let me go?" Kelvin's lips thinned. That did seem to be the only logical thing to do, since they really had gotten absolutely nowhere. And it didn't seem like they were going to anytime soon, either. He was about to agree, when the doors to the hall blew open, slamming against the stone walls with such a crash that it silenced everyone else immediately.

"_HOLD IT!_" came a shrill voice as the wind passed, "No one's leaving court!"

"Who the hell is _that_?" Ciato demanded, wondering just how long they'd expect to be kept in court. Rouge turned to try and see, but the darkness in the hall was just a bit too thick. All he saw was a silhouette. But it looked distinctly female. Fuse just shrugged, not particularly caring who happened to be interrupting the court _yet again_.

"Don't know, but they can be booked for disrupting justice," he said simply, to which no one agreed. Blue just looked back to where Kelvin stood. The man went absolutely stiff when he heard the voice. And when the figure stepped out into the light, Blue saw why. It was Nicolette, the one who tried to help Rita when she had been tried. Rouge just raised a brow as she walked right in.

"Why the hell is she _here?_" he whispered to Blue, as Nicolette passed by, a smirk on her face even as some of the crowd began to boo at her. Gustave just blinked as she slowly approached, wanting to ask the same question himself. She normally bordered on being rude; this was just being stupid. But Gustave was the judge; he had to give her some benefit of the doubt. Even if he really didn't want to.

"Nicolette Drangueford," he began slowly, calmly, "What brings you, my dear niece, to Hahn Nova?" Rouge's mouth dropped open. Nicolette was Gustave's _niece!?_ That was something he didn't see, and it was clear Kelvin didn't see it, either. He looked ready to keel over completely now. Nicolette gave a smile and curtsied, but something told Blue it was anything but courteous. Her smile looked too smug, even for Gustave.

"I came to tell you that this isn't Narcisse's idea," she declared, much to the shock of everyone except for herself. Gustave's kind smile faded, wondering what news his niece could've possibly had. He leaned forward.

"Then who, my dear, did this?" he asked gently. Her smugness merely grew. Rouge silently thought that if she were _his_ niece, she'd be eating an Implosion spell. She should thank the gods she wasn't his niece.

"_I_ did," she said, and that earned gasps of surprise from all around, "_I'm_ the one who caused the war between you and my father. _I'm_ the one who got Sir Rothbury's position among uncle Philippe. _I'm_ the one who knocked that idiot, Kelvin, clear off his horse." Blue risked a look around, just to see the startled looks on all involved. Wil and Tyler seemed to have frozen in place. Narcisse just had a grin, however oddly set, plastered on his face. Philippe couldn't believe what he was hearing, and Kelvin managed enough emotion to glare angrily at what was clearly deemed his biggest rival. And Gustave looked shocked beyond words. In fact, it was Cielmer who managed to speak next, him being the only one who didn't have any true connection to the young woman.

"Young lady, why would you do this?" he asked her, his voice sounding unusually loud in the large chamber. Ciato and Zozma actually winced; Rouge guessed it was because everything else had fallen so silently at the bizarre twist in the already deranged court. Nicolette didn't seem overly worried by the teacher's even tone. She placed a hand on her hip.

"Why not? I don't particularly like my father, and I hate Kelvin," she stated simply, as if that were a perfectly acceptable reason for starting what could've been a catastrophic disaster, "What better way than to push the idiot off his horse and blame it on daddy?"

"But then where the hell does _he_ come in!?" Zozma demanded, pointing to Narcisse. For once, Ciato seemed to actually agree that that was a good question. The two Mystics grinned, having a feeling they hit a crucial point on its head. But the look on Nicolette's face told them they hadn't. Rouge wondered if there was a way to cast Energy Chain without Blue noticing him. But there wasn't.

"_Him?_ He was just amusement," she replied, shrugging, "I just wanted to see what a man like Narcisse would do if he actually managed to get into the circle of nobility. Now I know." Blue heard Ciato and Ildon snort in amusement at the notion, and guessed they probably had done similar at some point in their lives. Likewise, Narcisse now looked absolutely furious. If he hadn't been strapped to a chair, he'd have leapt out and probably strangled the woman. It certainly didn't stop him from trying; he just managed to fall over when he did. Gustave motioned for Johan to come back and help him, and the young assassin was only too happy to oblige.

"Come on, crazy person. You're going to hurt yourself if you don't stop," he said, straightening Narcisse's chair. He wasn't even bothering to unloose the binds, and that may have been a good thing. Blue was sure if he had, they'd be dealing with a murder as well as a would-be scandal. But Narcisse wouldn't hear any of it. He continued thrashing around.

"_That little brat USED me!_" he screamed angrily, "_She insulted me! I demand a lawyer for this!_" Cielmer wanted to say that he _was_ Narcisse's lawyer, but he refrained. He wasn't doing an entirely good job of protecting his client, anyway. He turned to Gustave.

"What do we do about this, my liege?" he asked the younger man calmly. It was pretty clear not even Gustave had an answer for that one. But Fuse did, and he stood up solidly, firmly. Blue shook his head. He had a feeling whatever his boss's idea was, it would probably end badly. It normally did.

"I say we arrest everyone here for conspiracy," the cop declared, and Rouge just patted Blue's back as he smacked his head against the pew, "Sounds like this has too many knots to sort out, soldier. Best to just cut the strings and let 'em fall." Blue heard the Mystics snort again, and didn't even want to know just what they found be to so damn funny. Gustave, however, wasn't amused. He sighed and shook his head in disapproval. He should've known what Fuse would've suggested.

"We can't do that. We can't arrest _everyone_," he said tiredly, laying his head in his hands. Fuse just frowned, his shoulders slumping. To him, that was the easiest solution.

"_I_ would've done it," he sulked, and sat back down. Zozma actually laughed this time and gave the old cop a firm pat on the shoulder.

"And that's probably why no one likes you," the red-haired Mystic said, and Ciato nudged him angrily in the ribs. Blue sighed again. This court was falling apart, just like last time. Gustave stood up again, and beckoned his niece to come forward. She did; she wasn't worried. She was an idiot, like Fuse was.

"Nicolette, you realize you've caused a massive panic among both nations, as well as in Jade, correct?" Gustave asked her seriously, and she nodded, still proud of what she managed to accomplish, "I can't let this slip, my niece. I'm telling your father what you've told us. You will be dealt with back in Cantal's region." This time, Nicolette's face fell. And Rouge grinned. That was the only thing she hadn't foreseen. Why she hadn't, though, Blue really wanted to know of. That was the most obvious solution to this problem, other than just letting Narcisse walk free for his inadvertent hand. He wasn't trying to bring the nation down, after all. He was just being him.

"You… you can't!" Nicolette cried, "Please, uncle, don't tell him! I'll never see the outside world again! He'll lock me up for fifty years!"

"Then maybe you should've thought twice before startin' World War III," Fuse retorted, both amused and serious at the same time, "Now stop your crying. I've locked up _little kids_ that were tougher than this." Blue and Rouge just stared at their boss in utter disbelief. For all they could know, Fuse might've actually done that. No one put it past him, anyway. Nicolette nearly broke down, and Kelvin looked to Gustave for instruction. The good lord had none. Kelvin walked up to Nicolette and put his arm around her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"K-Kelvin?" she asked, but then she heard a click, and it took all but one second to realize he just handcuffed her, "_WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?_"

"You're in detainment for lying, conspiracy, and planting the seeds of war," Kelvin told her firmly, with just a hint of pride himself, "Oh, and for knocking my horse over, too. You owe me six thousand crowns for that." Nicolette's eyes popped out of her head at that. Six _thousand_ crowns! For a stupid horse! Rouge wasn't sure how many credits that amounted to, but it had to be in the millions to warrant her reaction. He looked over, and saw Fuse wipe a tear away.

"I'm so proud to see justice prevailed again!" he cried, sniffling a little as Kelvin and Johan began dragging Nicolette away. Zozma just raised a brow as the Time Lord frowned. Justice wasn't exactly their friend right then; they still didn't know what to do concerning the Time Lord's clock, and why it'd been broken. But everyone else seemed to have forgotten that fact, and Zozma was more than happy to do so, too. The red-haired Mystic shrugged easily, a grin forming on his face as the group gathered, ignoring the crowds that were beginning to get up and leave the court around them.

"So then, my human comrades, what do we do now?" he asked, a slight tone of mischief in his voice, "Go see the sights of Hahn Nova?" Rouge perked up a bit at that, but Ciato didn't seem as thrilled, and Rouge was dismayed to find Blue wasn't enthusiastic, either. Both shook their heads, and it was the white-haired Mystic who spoke first.

"We need to go to the Plane of Space and see why Kylin gave Philippe his power, remember?" Ciato reminded him flatly, and Zozma's shoulders slumped as Orlouge and the Time Lord agreed. He couldn't even believe it! They'd _just_ gotten out of court, too.

"Don't you humans _ever_ stop working!?" he whined in disbelief, as Blue led Rouge and Ciato out toward the front hall, where people were still discussing the case, or lack of it. Fuse just snorted. Obviously, working for a living wasn't a requirement in Fascinaturu. But he was more than happy to school the Mystics on human society, even if his attempts failed with Silence. As Orlouge and the Time Lord left to join the magicians, he glanced back at Zozma and grinned just as cockily as the red-headed Mystic had once been, minutes ago. And he gave the thumbs-up, too. Zozma _hated_ that gesture; it meant that Fuse was perfectly happy to work for justice twenty-four hours a damned day.

"Nope," was the simple response, "Now get your ass moving, soldier. We've got a job to do." Zozma wanted to argue that he was just _helping_ and he didn't even work for Fuse, but he refrained. This was just another adventure, and he loved trying different things, anyway. He grinned, and followed the cop out. He'd be going to _space_, after all. Life was just dandy for him. But unfortunately, it was just another day's work for Fuse. Obviously, Fuse had never been in space before.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, it looks like the scandal of Hahn Nova was solved! Or, perhaps not, when you consider all the zany antics and twists thrown their way. But it all worked out in the end, and hopefully for the better. But Philippe shed some light on a more pressing matter for the Mystics: Kylin, ruler of Space, gave his magic to a human. And while it's not a matter for IRPO, Fuse deems it worthy to look into anyway! How will our heroes fare in space? What will Kylin offer as an explanation? Will the Time Lord ever find out why his clock was broken? And will this story EVER end!? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	37. The Advent of SPACE COPS!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they're wondering how many chapters of this I'll be writing. I plan on over one hundred! Hopefully…

Blue wasn't quite sure how the events of the past case led to any of this. At this point, he wasn't quite sure how anything led to any other thing anymore. The trip from Hahn Nova had been thankfully short, and there were no delays on the way. But all of the Mystics decided to stay along for the trip to Kylin's realm, and to make matters more difficult, no one actually knew how to even reach that realm. The Time Lord was the best bet, and all he knew of it was that there was a shrine in Devon that held the old scriptures depicting the spell to summon the gate. And that scripture had been worn away through time. Which meant that, once again, no one on their team seemed to know what they were doing, or had to do. Which was typical. Currently, they were standing in the quad of the IRPO building. Hell, Blue wasn't even quite sure how they _got_ there, for that matter. To him, it seemed almost an eternity since they departed from Suzaku.

"Okay, does _anyone_ know any way to get to Kylin's realm?" he asked for what felt like the twentieth time since they returned. Not that it'd help. Zozma already suggested some very unusual ways to getting in touch with the god of space, and no one else had the courage to either dissuade him or help in any way. Rouge looked over at his twin.

"I'd stop asking, bro. No one knows anything about Kylin. The guy's a myth," the young mage said calmly, yawning, "Nothing more than a figment of imagination."

"Didn't _you_ visit him once?" Ciato pointed out flatly, brushing his hair with his slender, pale fingers. Rouge blinked slowly. That had been true, but the whole ordeal was fuzzy in his mind. Which was probably because Blue killed him almost immediately after, and then revived him again. Death did that to you, sometimes. He shrugged.

"It's not like my memory's very good, you know," Rouge replied, "For all I know, I could've seriously been hallucinating. The liquor at Yorkland might not have worn off back then." Ciato didn't know what to say to that, but Blue's reaction was quick and unsurprising. He glared at Rouge.

"If you _hadn't_ gone to the realm of space, we wouldn't have fought each other!" the older magician snapped, "Come on, Rouge! Try and remember!" Rouge frowned. He didn't often like letting Blue down, but how could he remember a memory that had been literally knocked right out of him? He closed his eyes, trying to think. How did he enter the realm of space? He remembered… cards. He had to get cards. He had the Gold one… he just got the Grail one when he went to Devon… Devon…

"It's in Devon," he finally said, but he felt that was pointless, "I don't know how, but I remember going to Devon." He opened his eyes and looked at Blue. The older magician was smiling, but it looked weak and regretful. He knew Rouge couldn't remember half of what happened before the fateful duel. He patted Rouge on the back.

"You sure, little brother?" Blue asked him, and Rouge nodded.

"More than ever, bro. I definitely remember Devon," he replied. Blue's smile widened, and he turned to Fuse. The old cop had taken to standing near a small plane he more or less owned in the ranks, but when he saw Blue staring at him, he faltered. He knew Blue was going to ask for the plane. And he found he was right. Blue asked for the plane. Subsequently, he was denied.

"Sir, you realize that if we don't straighten this out with the lord of space, the world may literally collapse, right?" Blue reminded him calmly. But Fuse wasn't nearly as believing of the mage as Rouge was. He shook his head, sipping a coffee.

"Look, I'm sorry, soldier. But I can't go giving you a plane to go joyriding in. It's against the rules," the old cop replied, "Besides, Rouge just say he couldn't remember. What am I supposed to say if we go there and there ain't nothing to lead us to this god of space?" Blue blinked, but had nothing to offer. To him, it should've been a relatively simple decision: either they get the plane or they all die. Fuse obviously didn't believe too strongly in magic. Blue glanced at Rouge. The poor man was racking his brain trying to help their cause.

"I'm telling you, it's in Devon!" Rouge cried after a minute, "I remember a little bit! I remember going there! The shrine the Time Lord was talking about! It's real! I've been there!" Fuse still wasn't moved as he stared at Rouge.

"Then how did you get in?" came the flat question. Rouge fell silent at that. That part, he honestly couldn't remember. It could've been anything. Talking to a woman, drawing a circle, throwing a few magic beans, hell, anything could've triggered a ripple in space. He hung his head.

"I don't know," he whispered, "Sorry, bro. I don't remember anything other than Devon." Blue sighed. They really needed to get to Kylin, but damn it, this wasn't Rouge's fault! He hugged his brother sympathetically.

"It's not your fault," he said gently, and then turned to Fuse and in a much more serious tone, said, "We need that plane. If you don't want to investigate, then don't. But I have to. As an officer, it's my duty to protect people. And right now, every person on this world might be in danger! So, do excuse me while I commandeer your plane!" With that, he all but shoved Fuse aside as Rouge followed him, heading toward the plane. Fuse watched in total confusion, his mouth dropping. Right there, his best worker _disregarded_ him! And he had no fear of being fired. Such a display of confidence, especially against the authorities!

"…when I was his age, I'd have done the same thing," the old cop said to himself, and dropped his coffee, "Wait!" Blue stopped, and slowly turned to face Fuse, brow lifted curiously. The question need not be spoken as Fuse said, "All right. We'll go to Devon. But we won't get more than a day or two there before we get another mission."

"That's enough time!" Rouge declared happily, "Devon is a small town. It won't take more than a day to scope the place out!" Blue seemed unsure, but he didn't want to let Rouge down. The man seemed confident that he knew where to go. He knew better than any of them, anyway. Fuse nodded grimly, and then took a pair of keys from his pocket. He walked over to the small plane, and slid the key in the lock. The resounding click echoed off the dark walls.

"Let's go before we waste that day, then," the cop said to them all, and then disappeared into the plane. Blue and Rouge exchanged worried looks. Fuse sounded much more serious than normal. But until they went to Devon to investigate, they couldn't worry about that. So, they shrugged it off and followed their boss into the plane, the Mystics following closely.

The plane left the quad smoothly, and quite frankly, Blue was surprised that no one called Fuse wondering where they were going. Not that Fuse would've taken the call, anyway. The man looked preoccupied for once, and his normally offensive talk seemed to have ceased. As Blue and Rouge strapped themselves into their seats, they exchanged another nervous glance. Fuse was silent for once. The whole plane was silent; the Mystics had no idea what to even say about heading to Devon. Slowly, Blue spoke.

"Sir, is everything okay?" he asked calmly, gently. Fuse took in a deep breath. For a moment, he looked through the cockpit window. Then, he turned to face his comrades. For once, his face looked a little younger; he shed his normally smug visage, for just that instance.

"Devon is where Silence lived before he was appointed general of Unit 18," Fuse said gently, frowning, "Before he and I were sent on our recruitment test." Blue's lips thinned. Fuse mentioned that test just once, and it hadn't been in a very reminiscent way. But before he could ask, Fuse continued on, "He never spoke of the place… but I went there once."

"What happened?" Rouge asked in a whisper, leaning forward in his seat. Fuse's eyes went distant again, back into the past of fifteen years. He had been twenty three then. Silence was only a year younger. Or so the Mystic wrote. As he remembered, everything about the day flooded his mind. The kraken, the rush water that sent Fuse sprawling from the forests of Yorkland to safety… and finding Silence nearly dead on the banks of the swamp. He shivered visibly.

"We were sent to exterminate a kraken that had come too close to the town. Silence… well, when it attacked with its Maelstrom, I was washed away while Silence was safe from it," Fuse began distantly, and the look in his eyes told the twins he was reliving the memory, somewhere in his mind, "But that didn't mean he was _safe_ from it, if you understand. I was sent toward the main road, but Silence was alone with the kraken. When I… finally came to, I heard screaming… and…"

"And Silence was dead," Rouge concluded, but Fuse shook his head savagely.

"Not quite, but damn close to it," the old cop growled, closing his eyes, "It was… the only time Silence spoke. To scream. I brought him back to Devon because I thought he'd be safe there."

"But he wasn't?" Blue asked, when Fuse stopped for a moment. Fuse shook his head, this time slowly, and opened his eyes. There were tears in them.

"Mystic officials came to take Silence. They thought we were a danger to him, they didn't want him dealing with 'scum' like us," Fuse replied, and now his voice was quite shaken, "Damn fool nearly died because of me! _Of ME!_ And what did I do? I brought him to the one town where Mystics happened to live!" This time he slammed a fist onto the control panel, and Zozma, who'd been piloting beside him, had backed off, eyes wide with worry. Blue unhitched his seatbelt and stood, walking to his boss's side, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. He was trembling, but whether it was in sadness or fury, Blue didn't know.

"I… I know he understood," Blue said, in a weak attempt to console what was obviously a very unresolved issue. But Fuse snorted bitterly.

"I didn't. I blamed _him_ for it because I was too dumb and too confused to stop them," he stated grimly, eyes narrowed as he looked at no one in particular, "They took him for about two years, questioned him on our ethics. They didn't think we were good enough for him." Orlouge and the Time Lord both looked away, both ashamed that such a feeling of animosity could still exist, but Ciato was the only Mystic who wasn't entirely moved. He crossed his arms, glancing at Fuse out of the corner of his eyes.

"Considering that you blamed him for something that was no one's fault, I think they were right," the white-haired Mystic said simply. Fuse just hung his head. Zozma patted him on the back, and then turned to Ciato. His wings flapped unhappily.

"I think you need to fall in a ditch," the red-haired Mystic said, and then asked Fuse, "What happened when Silence returned?"

"Nothing. He was quiet as ever," Fuse replied quietly, biting his lip, "He knew I blamed him, and he didn't do a damn thing. Just went on with his job, hell, even helped _me_ when I was demoted. He was… a good coworker. Hell, sometimes I think we were friends, in our own weird way." Ironically enough, silence fell all around them. Silence's view of humans had shaken the Mystic foundation a hundred or so years ago, but even now, it was painfully obvious it still had. Blue noticed Fuse had a wistful look on his face now. Not angry, or even regretful. But wistful. He seemed to have forgotten he was even driving. Finally, he said, "…we _were_ friends."

"Do you think anyone in Devon will remember?" Rouge asked, when Fuse shook his head and looked back at the windshield, taking control once more. Fuse didn't answer right away. His lips thinned.

"No. It's been fifteen years since then," the old cop replied at length, "Anyone who does… doesn't live there anymore. Silence made sure of that."

"He… he _killed_ humans?" Zozma asked in a harsh, unbelieving whisper. But again, Fuse shook his head.

"Not humans. Mystics," Fuse corrected, and now a look of sheer horror crossed every Mystic's face. Silence had killed his own! He had betrayed them! For humans! That was unheard of, even in the recent years in Mystic history.

"That slime!" Ciato growled, gritting his teeth, "I forgive living with humans, but killing other Mystics is against his own nature!" He had gripped his spear now, his pale knuckles growing white with anger, the metal underneath his fingertips bending slightly from the force of the pressure. But a look at Orlouge lessened his rage. The older Mystic looked… at peace?

"I knew it… the day he ran from us," Orlouge said gently, a weak smile gracing his lips, "Ciato, leave Silence be."

"But sir!"

"Times have changed for all of us, Ciato. Fifteen years means nothing to you or I, but to these humans, it's a quarter of their lives. Let it alone," the older Mystic said firmly, "We've done enough by banishing Silence from Facinaturu. Let him take control of his life from there."

"B-but… but other Mystics, sir!"

"Ciato, think about this for a second," Zozma said, glancing at Fuse. The older cop was tense now; any talk of Silence normally brought similar results from his coworkers' sides. "If you care about humans and all of the sudden, a bunch of us come and blame them for shit they couldn't possibly control, what would you have done?" Ciato opened his mouth to speak, and then promptly closed it. Zozma made his point. Ciato grumbled, crossed his arms, and turned away.

"I _wouldn't_ have killed my own race, for starters," the white-haired Mystic grumbled irritably. Zozma just shrugged, and turned to help Fuse pilot. With the story just told, he wasn't sure anyone could trust the cop to successfully pilot the plane; if he got as emotional as half the humans Zozma met, they might end up dead before reaching the borders Devon sat on.

Luckily, that wasn't the case. Fuse didn't crash, and within the hour, they had landed relatively safely within Devon's airport. At least, safely in the fact that Fuse landed _on the runway_ and not actually _inside_ the building. His reputation as an unsafe driver, however, had a decent reach. Even as they descended the plane, everyone around the entrance into the airport ran clear of them. Rouge blinked as they walked, passing through the glass doors and into the spacious room that served as both a café and the reception area. Even in there, the attendant looked uneasy. Rouge glanced at his brother.

"They don't look happy. Think they remember?" he whispered. Blue proceeded to smack him on the nose lightly, shaking his head. Fuse just snorted as he pushed the doors to the outside open, letting the view of Devon's square flood them.

"Doubt it, soldiers. It's been years, and like I said, Silence took care of it," the older cop reminded them, to which Ciato stiffened. But a quick glare from Ildon told the white-haired Mystic that bringing up his distaste was a stupid idea. So he didn't. He simply followed as they walked out of the airport, into the bright, quirky, mesmerizing splendor that was Devon. As usual, the merchants had their booths of runes and tarot readings all set up, and apprentices all over shouted their wares, or insults to their competitors. Fortune tellers hid in every nook and cranny, and women selling tea leaves were sitting on every stoop that could be seen. To Rouge, it looked even worse than the Magic Kingdom ever had. At least _they_ had some level of control when it came to festivals. This was just a jumble of magic all thrown into one magnificent, toxic beverage.

"Are you _sure_ we're going to find Kylin _here_?" Zozma asked, looking around with just as much skepticism as Rouge felt, "It looks like we just stepped into a circus rather than a place where one of the most powerful beings live." Rouge didn't say he fully agreed with that statement, but it was more or less implied by his expression as they walked down the road. Blue just laughed.

"Doesn't it remind you of home, little brother?" the older magician joked. Rouge's brows creased and he crossed his arms as he led them down a side path, where the street began to thin considerably.

"It reminds me of Furdo, that's for sure," Rouge grumbled, as the path turned around a copse of trees. It was quieter here; there were no houses in sight, and the crowd seemed to have vanished as soon as the square was out of view. Now Blue took his brother more seriously. He began to feel, in a small way, a level of powerful magic that he couldn't explain. It was odd. The crowd literally disappeared, all traces of noise gone. As though space itself had warped around the copse to prevent any outside intrusion…

The trail ended abruptly at what Blue could only say was the world's largest staircase ever built. He had never seen such a monstrosity before; when he came here, he visited the Rune booth and then promptly left. And now, he was glad he hadn't seen it. If Rouge was leading them there, it meant he had to climb this horrible abomination himself. Blue personally thought whoever created it was insane. As he looked up, higher than any building he'd ever seen, he couldn't even begin to count just how many stairs were there. It could've easily been over one thousand. Hell, it could've been _ten_ thousand, and no one would be able to remember from the sheer size of it all.

Blue wasn't the only hesitant one, either. Everyone stopped and stared up at the horrible torture that was Devon's own tourist attraction. Ciato's mouth dropped open; Ildon dropped his sword, and the Time Lord's eye twitched. Only Fuse and Rouge seemed unsurprised, and that was merely because the former never let anything surprise him, and the latter had managed to climb the stairs and survive. Blue had to give his brother credit for that. He certainly wouldn't have climbed all those stairs, and if he had, he'd have made sure Kylin died for not installing an elevator.

"Dudes, are we seriously going to _climb_ that?" Zozma asked, eyes widening as he beheld the structure. Rouge nodded grimly, climbing the first step.

"Boys," he said, gesturing with his hand to include all of the stairs, "I welcome you to Devon's space shrine."

"Looks more like a place to take someone you're willing to torture," Ciato commented flatly, crossing his arms, "I'm not climbing that."

"Do you really believe Kylin's up there?" Orlouge asked, looking at the Time Lord. The old Mystic ran his slender fingers through his hair. That was a good question. He didn't _believe_ it, that much he could say, but that didn't mean it wasn't impossible. The stairs looked like they reached right into the sky. He shrugged.

"The only way to know is to go up," he stated, and with that, they began the perilous climb.

By the time they'd gotten even halfway up there, by which two hours had passed, everyone was ready to pass out. The sun was moving slowly downward, casting a soft, orange glow on the horizon and bathing the copse behind them in pale light. But looking up, it didn't appear as if the stairs would end soon. Blue was sure he'd have murdered Kylin for this. This was just unfair. He shook his head, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Rouge, how long does it take to get up there!?" he demanded in exasperation. Rouge panted, his mouth dry from walking up so many damned stairs. He needed a drink badly.

"How the hell… am I supposed to remember!?" the younger magician yelled back, and groaned as he fell against the railing, "I say we take on a new case. I want to go home." Zozma and Ciato agreed, but Fuse wouldn't go for such a suggestion. In his mind, they'd come this far and they forced him to give an actual backstory. To hell if they'd tell him to take it back just because they didn't feel like climbing a few _tiny_ stairs!

"We already walked hundreds of steps and you want to _turn back!?_" the old cop asked, half amused, "The only way that's happening is if I throw you down the stairs." Blue just glared at his boss flatly. Sometimes, Fuse's stubbornness was an absolute godsend. But this just wasn't one of those times. He turned to Rouge.

"Wouldn't that constitute murder?" he whispered, and Rouge snorted, a smirk forming on his face.

"For us, it'd be the highest act of mercy possible," the young mage replied, and laughed. Blue just sighed and rolled his eyes. That was true enough, he supposed.

"Which is just typical," he said pointedly, and waved his hand, "We might as well go on." Rouge nodded his agreement, but it was with reluctance. He didn't want to go through this horrifying quest again, and the only reason he was happened to be because it was mandatory. He saw now why IRPO's layoff rate was so damn high. It was places like these that made the job fall under par. But nonetheless, they continued on valiantly.

Another two hours passed before they finally, _finally_ made it to the very top of the staircase. At that point, half of the team _had_ passed out, the exertion being too much for them. And by them, it constituted Orlouge, the Time Lord, and Zozma. Everyone else seemed to be fine, albeit cranky and exhausted. And hungry. Lunch had definitely passed them by, and to make matters worse, none of them thought far enough ahead to bring any food. This was quickly becoming the case from Hell. No… not even Hell's Lord would've asked a mortal to endure _this_. As they climbed the last step, Ciato moaned and dropped Zozma right on his back, sitting down on the gravel beside the unconscious Mystic.

"Okay, whoever wants to kill the man who thought of the term 'job,' raise their hand," he growled angrily, and was pleased to see everyone except for Fuse put up their hands. Fuse himself merely looked around. This was definitely what used to be Devon's shrine… but there was no shrine anymore. The lot was empty, though he did notice a giant pedestal stood where a building had obviously been, once. He tilted his head curiously.

"Well now, where the hell do you think the shrine went!?" he asked quizzically, as Rouge walked up to the pedestal. It was a simple stone one, but it was massive; nearly as big as the shrine itself had been. And it smelled like sulfur, too. He wrinkled his nose.

"We came up here for nothing? This sucks," he mumbled, throwing his arms up and slumping to the floor. He was tempted to follow Zozma's lead and fall asleep. Then a laugh behind him woke him up. He turned.

"Oh, the shrine's gone, my friends. Kylin decided to get a more… modern form of reaching his world," said a man that Rouge was sure was a Mystic himself. His hair was pure white, as was the suit he wore, save for his gloves. In his hand was a pocket-watch; in his left eye was a monocle. If he wasn't a Mystic, he definitely was a fashion violation. He smiled warmly. Fuse merely blinked.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, as Rouge said, "Where's the old keeper?" The man's smile went sly now. He laughed, putting his pocket watch away and shrugging as if the questions were a non-event.

"My name is Aeon," he told them simply, "As for the old keeper, she fled. Something about a Mystic lord finding her? You can tell that, when _I_ was alerted, this job was immediately thrust upon me! To think! I, a time traveler, forced to hold down a human job!" He laughed again. His voice made Rouge want to wince, and he wondered furiously what world Aeon happened to come from, if any at all. He looked directly to the Time Lord, but the old Mystic looked just as confused as he was. He was the _master of time_, and yet he had never known of this idiot who called himself 'Aeon.'

"I'm sorry. As master of _time itself_, I didn't realize anyone else had temporal abilities," the Time Lord stated flatly, and Aeon looked at him good-naturedly, "What sector did you sign up in, boy? You don't look like anyone who works for me." That didn't bother Aeon in the least. He offered his hand; the two shook.

"Funny you should say that. I too am a master of time," the young man said with a hint of amusement, "As for my 'sector,' I come from the second end of time, year 1403, a rift near Valachia. You might call it _Castlevania_." Now the Time Lord's face screwed up in distaste. He'd heard of that place. Hell, he visited once, and was promptly tossed out for being a 'pompous asshole.' Rouge looked at Fuse questioningly.

"What's _Castlevania_?" he asked curiously. Fuse snorted, a grin forming on his face.

"Another world far from here," the cop stated, "I've been there. Threw a lot of those people in jail for hunting vampires without the proper license. Lots of paperwork in that because of the Belmont-Bernhard war of 1102. But why the hell did they send their time master _here?_" He looked back at Aeon as he asked that. Again, the young man waved the question away as a non-event. He looked quite bored with the conversation now.

"It's my duty to make sure the fabrics of time aren't splintered in the few worlds I'm told to watch over," he said simply, "And since my friend is currently battling her way through hell and back, I've nothing to do right now. I received a message saying _space_ was being warped, but since there was no one else, I was forced into the job." That seemed like an unlikely story, but Fuse went with it with only a shrug. Any story that didn't point to a crime was okay with him. As long as Aeon paid to use a traveling agency, he was fine. Little did Fuse know that Aeon only needed to _distort_ time to go wherever the hell he wanted.

"You don't say!" the cop feigned interest, and then said, "About that warp in space. We have to see Kylin, because he fucked up and gave some guy his magic. How do we get up there?" Aeon's brow rose in mild interest. So _that's_ what this was about. They were practically going to solve the _exact same case!_ How utterly convenient. He smiled and pointed to the pedestal. Somehow, in the midst of his introduction, a giant rocket ship appeared out of nowhere, landing silently on the massive stone. No wonder it had been so huge! Fuse's mouth dropped open.

"I'd suggest using that," Aeon said, his grin widening. Was he seriously _giving them a rocket!?_ All because Fuse asked for it!?

"Dude, that is _awesome!_" Zozma exclaimed as Blue commented, "I doubt even IRPO could afford the gas bills on that…"

"Oh, it doesn't run on gas. It runs on the dreams of sweet, innocent children," Aeon told them, and looked at his watch, "…_WHAT!?_ Heavens, the time! I'm late!" Everyone blinked. Aeon still hadn't explained how to actually use the rocket, let alone what it ran on, and now he was planning to leave. Fuse wasn't about to let that happen. He stopped as Aeon stepped forward.

"Hold it, buddy. Where the hell are you going and how to we drive this death trap?" he asked. Aeon huffed. He had _things_ to do, but this human, this unimportant _bystander_ was in his way again. He glanced at his pocket watch. It was ticking backwards. His brows creased as his gaze returned to Fuse.

"I _must_ return to Domino at once," Aeon stressed firmly, frowning, "My friend is about to be killed by a monster, and I have to stop that before that world's timeline collapses. Now move!" But Fuse wasn't about to let their only useful source of information go. They struggled, Aeon pushing forward angrily as Fuse held him back. It ended with Fuse winning; he tossed Aeon back several feet. Angrily, Aeon exclaimed, "How _dare_ you mess with time! All things begin and end with it! I'll see to it that _your_ time ends soon!" Fuse snorted. As if that threat were the worst he'd ever heard. He wanted to tell this white-haired asshole that he fought _dogs_ that were stronger than him, but the Time Lord stepped in. He gave Aeon a tolerant smile.

"Look, boy, you don't have that power. Not here, anyway. As the _Time Lord_, technically _you_ are subservient to _me_, not the other way around," the Time Lord told him firmly, "There's not a thing about saving your friends; you won't get there fast enough. Not without this." He held up a tiny trinket, like the pocket watch Aeon held, but smaller and golden. Aeon's eyes widened, and Ciato's mouth fell open. That was the Clockwork Portal! And the old Mystic had been working on it for ages now!

"Why're you giving it to _him!?_" Ciato demanded impatiently, envious that yet again another human received something he himself would've rather had. The Time Lord smiled.

"As a fellow master to time, I understand the responsibility involved in saving lifetimes," he replied, but it felt more toward Aeon than to anyone else, "I've studied the nature of time with many different races, so I'm quite sure the Espers won't get you for this. It _should_ teleport you to wherever it is your friends are, so long as you know their exact location." Aeon's face paled a little bit. He didn't actually know _where_ his friend was. He'd have to wing it; not a big deal, since he'd done that before. Shrugging, he put the watch into his pocket and smiled genuinely.

"Thank you, Lord of Time," he said, bowing, "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"You didn't tell us how to drive this piece of crap!" Fuse exclaimed, interrupting Aeon again. Aeon's face went flat. Humans, he was sure, were the most idiot races of being he'd ever had to interact with. To him, piloting a rocket was easy. All one needed was a basic understanding of physics, chemistry, and driving. Obviously, that wasn't even in IRPO's curriculum. If he ever was promoted to Master of All-Time, he would make sure to change that. Taking out the watch again, he opened it and pressed the three buttons on the device.

"Drive it as you would a plane!" the time keeper said as he began to vanish from sight, "And if you need fuel, sing an innocent child to sleep!" With that, he was gone. Only his voice trailed on for another second, and then it left them in relative confusion. A rocket. None of them had ever driven one! Was it even really like driving a plane!? Zozma bit his lip as he looked up at the horrible abomination. Even in his immortal state, it was an intimidating machine. If it toppled over and smashed him, he wouldn't live through it. He backed away almost fearfully.

"Okay! Who wants to be the little kid who fuels the plane?" he asked in false cheerfulness. Blue and Rouge glanced at each other. They were the youngest, and they both were twenty one. That was beyond old enough for adulthood.

"Do any of us _look_ like little children?" Rouge asked the red-headed Mystic flatly, raising a brow. Ciato snorted; the answer, of course, was no. But then again, every Mystic there was over one thousand. To them, a tiny number like twenty one was practically a _newborn baby_. But he didn't stress that verbally. His amused grin said it for him. Rouge immediately exclaimed, "We're _not!_"

"I'm practically old enough to retire at this point!" Fuse also declared, even though he wasn't a day past thirty eight. Ciato shrugged it off, and walked up to the rocket. Up close, he saw it was in decent condition. At the very least, Aeon hadn't gone comet-hunting with it. There were no dents to mar its surface, and there was a faint covering of glitter in the white paint. That part, he didn't like. It meant there was magic on the rocket indeed, and not of the Mystic variety. Mystics _never_ used glitter. Unless that Mystic was Rastaban himself. He tore his eyes away from the unsightly view and looked back at his comrades, grinning.

"Does it truly matter who did what or who's older than whom?" Ciato asked in an uncharacteristically calm voice, raising his arms in what looked like surrender, "The point is, Kylin needs our help and we have the means to find him. Let's go." The only one who bought that sort of bullcrap was Fuse himself. He nodded firmly, and strode up to the rocket like it was his to pilot. Needless to say that everyone silently worried he might crash the damn thing. He just gave Ciato an approving smile as he passed.

"It's that kind of spirit that makes me want to hire you, boy," the old cop said proudly, and Ciato winced as he endured Fuse patting his shoulder. Then he watched as the cop vanished through the door, with Blue and Rouge following obediently, albeit reluctantly. The Time Lord, Orlouge, and Ildon also entered, all three interested to see how a rocket would actually work. The only one who stopped was Zozma. He and Ciato stared at each other for a moment.

"You just want Kylin to give you some Space magic," the red-haired Mystic stated flatly, not even surprised that Ciato would try such a tactic. Ciato's brow rose; his amusement never left his face.

"What of that?" he asked, and suddenly frowned, "To hell if humans get everything and leave us to rot. Now come on." Then, he turned and stormed onto the rocket. Zozma blinked for a few moments. He had never thought of it that way. He loved humans. Most were nice, too. Then he shrugged. If Ciato wanted to be a bastard, he'd be all too happy to let the white-haired Mystic fall on his ass over it. With that resolution in mind, he waltzed into the rocket, and the door shut behind him.

The inside of the rocket was pretty much the same as an airplane. There were the leather seats and the uncomfortable seatbelts; there were storage compartments above the seats to hold their bags and credits; there were even windows to see out of, should they be so inclined to look out. But the only difference from a plane was that everything aside from the leather was made of chrome. The floors, the ceiling, the walls, hell, even the door itself was made of chrome, too. And Zozma was sure that, if he went into the bathroom, the toilet would be made of chrome as well. Personally, he wasn't impressed. He preferred the stone and marble of Facinaturu, and this seemed just so… so clean! There was no dust on anything! Back in Facinaturu, every surface would be riddled with the cobwebs and dirt of _never been used before_! To be in this rocket, with such a sterile atmosphere… Zozma had to resist the urge to start throwing Rava Shots around just to dirty everything up. Eye twitching, he sat stiffly in a seat next to Blue and Rouge.

"So, what's space like?" he asked Rouge, partly because he was interested, and partly because he needed something to take his mind off the incredibly clean rocket. Rouge, unfortunately, wouldn't be aiding him in that. The young man's lips thinned.

"When I first visited Kylin, I didn't actually go _into space_. I was warped there from the shrine," Rouge explained. Blue stared at him for a moment. If Rouge didn't know exactly _how_ to get to Kylin, he should've said something. But when Blue pointed this out, Rouge shrugged and said, "I said we had to get to Devon. We went there. This is just as frigged up to me as it is to you." Blue couldn't argue that. But it didn't mask Zozma's obvious disappointment. The Mystic sighed heavily.

"And here I thought you'd know something _we_ didn't," he pouted, crossing his arms, "We'd _love_ to go to space. But can we? Nope. Kylin's monopolized the Space Contract of '24 ever since the last guy who ruled the plane decided to hail comets on you humans because you insulted him. And now to find out that we might still _die_ because we don't know where we're going!?" He sighed again. Rouge's brows creased tensely.

"And why would this be my fault!?" the young mage demanded furiously. Ciato, who was sitting behind Zozma, just snorted and shook his head, leaning forward onto Rouge's seat.

"Because Sparky over there is getting hyper and can't control himself over the thought of floating around in space," the white-haired Mystic said with an amused grin. Such an accusation seemed to sober Zozma up as he snapped around toward his fellow.

"_What!?_ _You're_ the one who wants to screw everyone out of their power!" Zozma reminded him defensively, his arms flailing wildly in his exasperation, "_I_ just want to see the moon and the stars and all this _shit_ we _read_ about in those human novels Asellus buys!" Both twins blinked, watching as the exchange between the two Mystics went back and forth. Neither seemed willing to relent, and both had dirt to bring up with the other. On and on it went for minutes on end, and Blue risked a glance toward the front. Fuse obviously heard it all; the man was hunched over the controls, and though Blue couldn't see it, he more felt that his boss was twitching as he heard the two Mystics arguing like babies.

"_WHY DON'T YOU JUST JUMP OFF THE SHIP, BABY FANGS!?_" Fuse finally lost it when Zozma shouted this. He slammed his fists on the control panel, and the rocket screeched to a stop, throwing everyone forward. Those who were unlucky enough to not wear a seatbelt regretted it instantly. Fuse stiffly rose, and quickly turned to face them all. His left eye twitched madly, as though the blood vessels in his head finally snapped.

"If any of us gets off this ship, it'll be because I crashed it into a black hole and reduced us to subatomic particles!" he yelled furiously, "Now stop your bickering or we're _going home!_" Once again, Fuse's very out-of-place paternal instincts worked. Both Zozma and Ciato leaned back in their seats and quieted down. In fact, _everyone_ stayed quiet. No one needed Fuse to be any crazier than he already was. He definitely would've crashed the rocket if he thought it'd help him. When no one dared raise a hand to his embodiment of justice, Fuse whirled around and slammed back into his seat. To hell if he'd let a bunch of babies ruin his first trip to space. With nothing but silence to distract him from his driving, he turned all of the levers back on and began to guide the rocket again. Not that he knew where Kylin was supposed to be, but most of his missions had a tendency to start that way: not knowing where he had to go. And he survived all of them. This one wouldn't be any different. Grinning, he knew there was only one way to ensure that _this_ space voyage would be a success.

"To infinity," he began, and pressed a green button, "_AND BEYOND!_" And with that, the ship sped up ahead, into what everyone hoped _wasn't_ the path of a screaming comet. That, they prayed, wasn't too much like Fuse to do… was it? It couldn't have been. Fuse wasn't _that_ stupid.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

After getting to Devon and meeting a crossover from Castlevania, our hearty heroes are now on a journey through the center of the universes, literally. But, will their new rocket actually help them find Kylin, or will Fuse crash it onto another world? Will Ciato receive space magic? And will Aeon make another appearance? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	38. A bunch of Relative mumbojumbo

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they're ready to piss themselves because of how awesome my story is. I don't blame them.

From what Fuse saw as he drove the rocket along a totally random path, space was nice. He saw the stars twinkle; some were huge, being close up, and some were still quite tiny. He saw other planets, many, many more than the nine he had learned about back in elementary school. He saw asteroid belts and comets float by serenely, much more slowly than he thought they would, and without as high a chance of colliding with him as he thought, too. But what truly caught his attention was the sheer _size_ of space. It was common knowledge that space was considered infinite in its ability to hold worlds, stars, moons, pretty much everything. But to actually _see_ it, to know that you now stood on the beginnings of _nowhere_, well… that was an experience Fuse was willing to give his entire job up for.

But there was one thing that marred all of this beauty that the old cop suddenly felt. Despite the calm, despite the tranquility of space, Fuse couldn't forget just why Aeon had given him that rocket. They still had to find Kylin. And they still didn't know where to look. When he had first entered space, Fuse had the silly notion that perhaps there'd be a clue or two about where Kylin lived. But now, he saw that wasn't going to happen. And in the realm of space, he doubted even Sherlock Holmes could've found Kylin. He gave a heavy sigh.

"Does anyone see anything that might lead us in the right direction?" he asked for what he felt might've been the thousandth time. Behind him, he heard Blue sigh as well, and knew the young man shook his head.

"Not since the last time you asked us, sir," Blue replied tiredly. Beside him, Rouge yawned loudly and stretched his arms. For once, space wasn't as interesting as he thought it would be, and it was clear.

"With what's been reported about space, I doubt we're going to find him at all, boss," Rouge added unhelpfully, and shrugged, "If I'd have known we'd be going into space, I wouldn't have suggested Devon." Zozma, who'd been looking out the window for some time now, turned back toward him, raising a questioning brow as Ciato feigned only the slightest interest.

"Why's that?" the red-haired Mystic asked quizzically.

"Well, considering the laws of physics and how they apply, space isn't exactly a realm we want to be in for too long. Take that with the black holes and other physical mumbo-jumbo that the boys back at BIO report, and normal adventurers are as good as dead," Rouge replied casually, as if this wasn't something to be afraid of, "And comets? Damn. We definitely do _not_ want to crash into those. Even if I hadn't read up about some of the old magic, I know that hurtling headfirst into a comet is bad." Ciato just snorted, shaking his head as he listened to the disinterested mage. That all sounded nice, but he certainly wasn't afraid of anything space had to give him. On the other hand, however, Zozma was terrified. His eyes widened with every word Rouge spoke, and because he knew nothing about space, he believed it, too.

"I-is space really that dangerous!?" he demanded, eye twitching just a little as he thought of how painful colliding with a fiery boulder might be. Rouge just nodded, pursing his lips.

"Space isn't like any of our worlds. It literally can twist, turn, swirl, and warp in on itself without seriously hurting us," the mage explained calmly, finally turning in his seat, "But if we do happen to get caught in one of those warps, a black hole, we'll most likely die. Our bodies aren't made for atomic breakdowns and colliding particles. It'd be like going through a blender, if you want a comparison. The only good thing is that there won't be blood splatter; the atomic components in blood will be broken up before they ever reach oxygen. So it won't be messy, at least." Unfortunately, that didn't calm Zozma down at all. He visibly shivered now. They were in the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles from any form of civilization! And they could die any second! And to think he even wanted to go there. Sure, Mystics were nearly immortal. But he was sure that complete subatomic sabotage surpassed immortality. Basic physics did apply to all things, after all.

"Okay, I'm ready to go home then," Zozma stated, and beside him, Ciato laughed hysterically. As if it were that easy. The white-haired Mystic turned to his red-headed companion with a smug smile on his face. Zozma wished he could slap that smile off.

"If you haven't noticed, we're over ten thousand miles from Facinaturu," Ciato said in amusement, crossing his arms as he leaned in his seat, "And not one of us aside from Fuse can drive this thing. So… yeah, good luck getting home, pal. It's not happening." Zozma just growled. Ciato might've been right, but he didn't have to be so goddamn arrogant. Ildon, who was in the back, just waved a hand airily as he looked out one of the back windows. He saw a star dim out for a moment.

"Here's my question. If space isn't like any world, then what is it?" he asked, and Rouge turned to him, "It has to be something. It can't just continue on forever, can it? Wouldn't we eventually find our way back?" Rouge shook his head. If it were that simple, he wouldn't have been so hesitant to venture into the realm at all. But to his surprise, he wasn't the only one who knew anything about space. For, the Time Lord answered Ildon this time. The older Mystic took a deep breath.

"Space is literally a vast plane of nothingness. And when does nothing ever start or finish?" the lord asked gently, and smiled, "Put it into technical terms, space is like a 'pocket.' It can hold quite a bit, and if you rip the seam and expand it, it'll hold even more.

"Taking it into even more literal terms, think of our worlds as a 'coat,' and time and space are the left and right 'pockets.' They're literally like alternates of one another," the Time Lord continued, "The only difference is that time has physical manifestations, known as events. Space, unfortunately, does not. Space isn't actual matter; it's simply that: space." Ildon didn't entirely understand what was being said, but he nodded his head anyway. Somehow, he doubted _any_ explanation of space would've made much sense. It was, in a sense, considered taboo to even study about the realm. He just looked over at Ciato, who seemed to not even pay attention to what was being said.

"So, what do you think?" he asked. The white-haired Mystic perked a brow, truly amused that anyone would think he gave a crap.

"Oh, I think it'd be great if we were swallowed up in a giant black hole right now," he remarked sarcastically, and laughed, "Those almost remind me of Tanzer."

"Yeah, I wanted to ask about that," Zozma added, and his brows creased as he thought about his question, "If this is _space_, then what's that crap in between all our separate worlds? Isn't that like space, too?" The Time Lord shook his head.

"Not at all. Space is an entirely separate realm from our worlds, remember," the lord replied, "What we experience between all our worlds is a _ripple_ in space. That's all that truly separates us." Zozma and Ildon simply looked at each other in confusion. If that was supposed to help clear anything up, it didn't.

"So, then Tanzer is part of space?" Zozma concluded. If Rouge didn't think it'd be insulting, he would've laughed. But it _was_ insulting, and he didn't exactly know what Tanzer was, either. The Time Lord just chuckled; he was the only one who actually knew what the fearsome monster was made of. And everyone was sure that was only because he used magic to go into the past to find out.

"No. Tanzer is a physical being. We all know this from being inside him," the Time Lord said, and grinned, "I doubt any of us want to remember that, either." He was right about that, "If you must know, Tanzer fused himself with the ripple in space. That's why we cannot see him, and why he only swallows ships bound to Owmi from Nelson." It was clear by the look on Zozma's face that nothing the Time Lord was saying was ever going to make much sense. It really would've been best if he just gave up. But Zozma wasn't good at listening, even to his own common sense. He looked at Blue.

"How is that _possible!?_" he asked, eyes widened with utter bewilderment, "How can you become one with _nothing!?_" Blue and Rouge looked at each other. If they knew the answer, they would've gladly given it. Unfortunately, they didn't. Rouge just shrugged, and Blue gave an apologetic smile. The Time Lord, however, beamed at the chance to share more of his knowledge.

"It's quite simple, you see…"

"_NO!_" Fuse shouted, stopping the old Mystic, "No more! You're making my damn head hurt with all this shit that I don't need to know about! Who cares, anyway!? We killed that son of a bitch when he swallowed us last time!" This time, the Time Lord's mouth dropped, and Blue just sighed, shaking his head. Fuse might've gotten rid of what could've been a very confusing explanation, but he didn't have to be rude about it. Except that he was Fuse, and he was good at that. The Time Lord just snorted, looking away.

"I just wanted to _help_," he muttered, as Zozma stared and said, "You guys _killed_ Tanzer!? How!?" Blue groaned miserably, wishing Zozma didn't ask that. Not only did it happen so long ago that it was a blur to him, but they weren't even the ones who killed him. And he knew both Rouge and Fuse would take the credit. At the very least, Fuse was grinning like an idiot. An overconfident, arrogant idiot.

"I crashed my plane into it and gave it a stomach ache," he declared proudly as Rouge scratched his head and said, "I don't know. I remember talking to a pastry, a coffee mug, and a marshmallow, though." Blue stared at his own brother as though he had just suddenly grown three heads. Rouge's skin paled, knowing Blue didn't believe a word he said. But honestly, that's all he really remembered about that particular experience. He said as much. And Blue just shook his head again in disbelief. Zozma, of course, seemed as confused as ever.

"Man, maybe being human isn't such a drag," he commented, and turned to Ciato, "I mean, seriously! They got to fight Tanzer and _win_! Not even a Mystic can do that!" Ciato, however, wasn't particularly interested in what was, in his mind, dribbling out of Zozma's mouth. He looked at his nails, watching as they shined in the light.

"If you didn't listen, moron, they didn't _directly_ fight Tanzer," the white-haired Mystic said airily, "Their plane did. And their plane died from it too…" Right as Ciato spoke, the rocket crashed, and everyone flew forward, slamming into chairs, walls, and each other. The lights flickered for a moment, and then went out completely. Everything began to simply shut down, and for a moment, complete and utter silence fell. Then, everyone heard a clicking sound. Then they heard a thud. And then another click, and finally they heard Fuse curse. Though no one saw what actually happened, they all had a pretty good idea: somehow, Fuse managed to actually crash their rocket.

"Well now, this kind of ruins the case, eh?" the older cop asked, slamming his fist on the control panel again. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything. He yelled, "_SON OF A SUBMARINER!_ Did this thing seriously break down!?" Rouge and Blue exchanged glances for a second.

"You telling us you didn't do this?" Rouge asked the darkness, not knowing just where Fuse was amidst the black. He heard Fuse snort, and knew the man couldn't believe he just asked that.

"Why in hell would I crash a _rocket!?_ I could have died!" Fuse exclaimed, brows creased as he tried to find some sort of light. Unfortunately, in the dark, he couldn't see a damn thing. Not entirely surprising, but he wasn't too scared of what he might find. Except that when he went not even ten feet, he smashed right into something. Cursing, sputtering, and shoving whatever it was he slammed into, he yelled, "Who the hell put a column here, anyway!?" Whatever it was he shoved just coughed indignantly.

"_You_ smashed into _me_," Ciato pointed out, and sighed, "If you're going to yell at me, at least get your facts straight." Fuse wanted to grumble. Of all the things he could've run into, a smug, arrogant Mystic wasn't one he wanted. He shoved Ciato again and pushed himself forward to try and continue his valiant search for a light. And again, he collided right into something. And this time, he toppled over when he stumbled over the chair.

"_DAMN IT ALL!_ Someone throw on the goddamn lights!" he shrieked, as he stood up and rubbed his boot. Silently, he prayed he didn't break his toe, and he waited for the lights to come on. But they didn't. He grew impatient and said, "Well!?"

"How're we supposed to find a light in this darkness?" Ildon asked him, both vaguely annoyed and somewhat amused. Fuse wanted to shoot someone now. This just wasn't going their way, and now he knew the two days he gave them wouldn't be enough. If what the Time Lord said about space was right, they might have even been gone for years, and not one of them would know it. This mission really sucked.

Turning slowly, Fuse squinted his eyes to try and see, as if that would have suddenly given him night-vision. It didn't, but he found he could barely make out everyone else's outline. That would at least help him not run into them anymore, and carefully, he picked his way over to the far wall. Using his hand as a guide, he ran it along the wall, and soon found a glass panel. A window! Quickly, he looked outside; he saw the stars floating across quickly, and saw a distant planet, nearly as tiny as those stars. The only difference was that the planet was a luminous golden; the stars were so bright that they came off as white or blue. He whistled.

"Wherever we are, we're still moving," he stated, glancing back before realizing he couldn't see anyone else, "The rocket's down, but whatever we're on still moves." Somewhere in the back, he heard a snort.

"God forbid elliptical orbit," Ciato remarked, and when he heard Fuse growl, he said, "What did you expect? From your human study of space, all worlds follow a certain path that revolves around gigantic stars, don't they? Why would this surprise you _now?_" Fuse wanted to argue, but Ciato had a point. Besides, Fuse wasn't exactly an expert on space, either. All he really knew about it was that stars hung out there and that it was a common theme in sci-fi flicks. He just shrugged.

"It's not like I know _where_ we are," he explained casually, as though that wasn't a problem, "We could be so far out of the galaxy that what we thought were rules of space don't even work anymore." Ciato just perked a brow. That was an interesting excuse, but he wasn't about to fall for it. Even if he knew next to nothing about space, he definitely knew he understood more than Fuse did. That was enough.

Somewhere next to him, Ciato felt Zozma shift and climb out of his seat. The white-haired Mystic wanted to tell his friend to sit back down, that nothing would help them right then, but he couldn't bring himself to. He was partly curious to see just what Zozma was up to, and to tell the truth, maybe he could find out what actually happened. But then he managed to make out where exactly Zozma was going: to the latched door keeping them inside. The idiot was going to open it. And that might just kill them.

"Zozma, what the hell are you up to!?" he demanded, standing up. He didn't need to see to know Zozma was grinning like the idiot he was.

"Well, if we're ever going to figure this out, we should just open the door and see where we are. It's as simple as that," Zozma stated, and indeed that grin was on his face. He was just about to reach the door when Ciato leapt across the seat, across the aisle, and thrust out a hand to stop him. Instinctively, Zozma backed away and Ciato fell right on the floor.

"Are you an idiot!?" Ciato screamed, getting back up and throwing his arms up, "You can't just _open the door into space!_" Zozma blinked. To him, the matter was simple. Their answer was right outside.

"Why can't we?" he asked. Ciato was sure he'd lose his mind if someone somewhere didn't decently explain space to Zozma. He slapped his forehead.

"Because there's _no oxygen_ in space! You open that door, and you'll kill us!" Ciato replied in exasperation. He hoped that his tone would stress just how _bad_ Zozma's idea was. But he obviously forgot who Zozma was. The red-haired Mystic didn't seem to see the problem with lacking oxygen. Or with killing everyone else.

"Really? Awesome! I want to see!" Zozma declared, and before Ciato could even stop him, he put his hand back on the handle and threw open the door. Ciato screamed, throwing himself against the door to try and close it. But somehow, the door seemed to have mysteriously gained several hundred pounds; it didn't even budge, and all Ciato managed to do was slam his perfectly straight nose into the chrome. In fact, he was certain he heard a very loud, very painful _crunch_ somewhere in the process. Angrily, he rubbed his nose, glaring at his friend.

"Good job, Captain Curious. We're going to die now," the furious Mystic spat, his voice muffled as he held his nose to keep it from bleeding, "Any last words?" Zozma looked out into the darkness of space, and looked around. There was, as far as he could see, nothing but barren ground and black sky for miles upon miles. And that disappointed him. He expected rocketing comets, falling stars, fiery explosions, and aliens. He was _definitely_ looking forward to aliens. He shrugged, turning back to Ciato.

"Space looks boring," he said simply, "Let's go home." Ciato finally lost it. He roared and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking himself in. Rouge just blinked for a moment. No matter how much of an ass Ciato was, if he didn't come out, he might just die wherever they were. He walked to the bathroom door and knocked on it. There was no reply.

"Ciato? You okay in there?" Rouge asked gently, genuinely becoming concerned with the Mystic's lack of response. And when Ciato didn't answer again, Rouge abandoned calm and just banged on the door. Finally, he got an answer.

"_STOP!_ Yes, I'm _fine_, okay!?" came a snappy response, and then a sigh, "Now go away. I'm currently floating in mid-air and I don't even care why!" Rouge backed away, but not because he respected Ciato. He was confused now. Ciato was floating? He knew the Mystic had wings, but why was he _floating_? The bathroom wasn't even big enough for his wings to expand.

"I'm sorry. Did you just say you were _floating!?_" Rouge repeated, and got another angry huff in response.

"Yes, already! I'm floating. _OUCH!_" Ciato cried, as Rouge heard a thud, "Damn it, my head just hit the damn ceiling!" Rouge blinked again. This was just getting too weird. But as he turned to look at his brother, he found he was moving awfully slowly, and he felt as though his body were as light as a feather. And when _he_ looked down… his feet weren't touching the ground _at all!_ He was floating, too! The crash must have messed with his mind more than he expected.

"_BLUE!_" he yelled, knowing that if anyone would make sense of it, it would be his brother, "_HELP ME! I'M FLOATING!_" Finally, after a moment of being in slow motion, he managed to turn. And his mouth dropped. _Everyone_ was floating! No, not just everyone. Everything, too. Chairs, cups, blankets, anything that was held down before was floating. Everything except the rocket itself.

"I know, Rouge. We're all floating," Blue said calmly, standing completely still and still somehow managing to glide across the room. It was almost creepy to watch.

"But _why?_" Rouge demanded, so completely bewildered that he forgot all laws of physics, and lack of it. The Time Lord just tapped his chin as Orlouge managed to smash into one of the lights, trying to move just a bit to get to his drink.

"It appears that gravity is negated out here," the old Mystic said simply, as if that were news to all of them, "Seems any form of physics as we know it is rendered invalid. Such a strange occurrence. I prefer to be on the ground." Rouge just shook his head. He knew all of that. He might've been stumped, but he wasn't stupid.

"I meant _why are we alive?_" he rephrased, crossing his arms as he tried to keep still, "There's no oxygen in space! By all accounts, we should be _dead_." Blue just hummed. That was all well and true. But for whatever reason, the laws of space were just as screwed up as the laws of gravity. And there really was only one way to find out why. Zozma was already showing them the way, albeit recklessly. Blue turned to the red-haired Mystic, and then to his brother.

"If we're going to understand this, we might need to take Zozma's cue and do some exploration," Blue stated seriously, and Rouge nodded his agreement. Fuse and Ildon were already working on swimming toward the doorway; that left only Orlouge and the Time Lord to convince. And both of them would be too intrigued by the broken laws of physics to care where they went. And Ciato? Well, he was still locked in the bathroom. By his own accord, no doubt. Blue just grinned and followed his boss.

"What about Ciato?" Zozma asked him, when Rouge passed as well. The two twins exchanged glances. Technically, there wasn't much they could do. If Ciato didn't want to go, they couldn't force him. And besides, it'd be one less thing to worry about. To Rouge, having Ciato lock himself in his own prison was more a blessing than a curse.

"If he wants to come out, he'll know where to find us," Rouge said simply, and shrugged, "After all, where the hell could _we_ possibly go?" Blue didn't feel the need to remind him that gravity no longer bound them; that fact was obvious enough as Fuse managed to knock into an overhead fan before grumbling and continuing on. Blue just snorted. So far, this trip into space wasn't what he expected at all.

When they all set foot outside of the ship, the sight they beheld both amazed and terrified them. The sky, if it could still be called that, was entirely black. It was as if the sun never existed, though they could still see it, some good distance away. It was luminous, but the sheer darkness of space seemed to merely absorb the light, not reflect it or brighten it in any way. Other stars twinkled and gleamed, some close, some too far to be seen by the naked eye. But they all knew that the numbers of them ranked into the billions. And to just be amidst it all… it was breathtaking. They were _observing space_!

But what terrified them wasn't the view or the atmosphere they were standing in. It was what they had landed _on_. The rocket clearly wasn't moving, but even then, they could feel the ground beneath their feet moving. Like a tiny tremor, but not powerful enough to send them shivering in fear of being swallowed up. Where they were currently moving to, no one had that answer. But the stars slowly drifted around them, some coming so close that they could see the sparks of radiating energy. Zozma reached his hand out to touch one; he withdrew it immediately, as he felt heat run up his arm. He shook his head. It was little wonder there was nothing in the study of Mystic space.

"Where _are_ we?" he breathed, his voice soft in wonderment as he looked around. Everywhere he turned, there were more stars and more soft lights. Some made beautiful patterns, some just seemed to have been tossed helter-skelter by some higher being, more powerful than even the Espers of old. Somewhere behind him, Zozma heard Blue tap his foot on the ground. It made an oddly brittle _crunch_ as he did so.

"I believe we may have landed on a meteoroid," the magician stated calmly, bending down and scooping something up, "Look here. This metal's known as nickel."

"Like the currency used by some of the other worlds?" Rouge asked, and Blue nodded. _That_ was a nice discovery. Their region, in particular, had never used human currency. Everything was exchanged with magic and intelligence, and Credits were the common for their world. But it obviously wasn't so for others. Zozma grinned when Blue handed him the nickel to look at. It was slightly heavy for its size, but it did shine, and it _was_ a material he'd never used before.

"How much do you think the traders in Koorong would want for this?" he asked Ildon, and his grin went sinister, "We could open a trade on this stuff! We could be rich!" Ildon, however, wasn't nearly as enthusiastic for Zozma's new scam. He shook his head in disbelief, and swatted the tiny rock out of his friend's hand.

"That's _illegal_, first of all," the green-haired Mystic reminded him flatly, crossing his arms, "Second, who the hell would buy from us!? Mystics don't use trade; we kill whoever stands in our way if we want stuff." Blue just glanced at Fuse, knowing a remark like that set off a flag or two. Fuse just turned, and stared at Ildon in disapproval. He tapped his foot almost impatiently.

"Do I hear a future confession to murder?" he asked, and Ildon almost laughed. He wasn't even confessing to anything. He had never killed a human. At least, not as long as he could remember. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"I'm being honest here. This trade of Zozma's wouldn't work well because no one would trust us. Except ourselves. And we don't use money for anything unless we actually live with humans," Ildon told him, and even from outside, they heard Ciato add, "And we'll never live with you idiots, either." Rouge wanted to argue that Ciato _hit on him_ not that long ago. But Fuse was already speaking again.

"Yeah, that trade wouldn't work," the older cop agreed, and grinned, "Besides, even if it did, there's a lot of paperwork in that, too. Free trade isn't so free when you go and get the ESB involved. And that's the _only_ way to trade with other worlds." He tapped his chin for a moment, and then snorted as he said, "At least, _legally_, anyway. And we all know how much the boys back home hate illegal activity, right?" No one said a damn thing as Fuse continued to chuckle as though Zozma's idea was the greatest joke in the world. He went back to looking at the ground he stood on, and Zozma leaned toward Rouge.

"If they hate it so much, why are so many cops bad at their jobs?" he asked, and Rouge burst out laughing. That was a good question indeed, and the answer seemed simple enough: jobs like this were what did it. Blue just nudged Rouge hard in the ribs before his laughter reached Fuse's alert ears. Thankfully, it didn't.

Unfortunately, Blue's initial discovery of nickel had been a short find indeed; after nearly an hour of searching, they had recovered no more, and it didn't appear as it any more would be found, either. And so, they eventually had to admit that Blue found the only trace of nickel on the meteoroid. That was fine with everyone except for Zozma; they hadn't come here to make a fortune, anyway. So, Fuse decided to take the lead and guide them through the barren waste. Not that there was much to get lost by; the only thing that seemed to adorn the meteoroid was craters, and they knew better than to fall into those.

But it was also clear that darkness would be a problem, too. Only Blue knew Light magic, and he couldn't keep a constant stream of Sunrays up to light the way. For once, Fuse's handcuffs proved to be useful. He handed everyone a pair, and told them to chain themselves to each other so no one could get lost. It was a pretty ingenious idea, but it did raise the question of just why Fuse carried so many handcuffs with him. And how he could fit so many in his pocket. But no one asked, because no one particularly cared. All they knew was that now they _couldn't_ get lost, or run away, without breaking the links. And that just wouldn't be happening. As an officer of the law, Fuse made sure all of his equipment was magic-proof and bite-proof. If they wanted to run, they'd have to rip their own arms off.

And so, the grand trek across the meteoroid began. With only the rocket to pitifully serve as a landmark, Fuse decided they should go north. Not because there was any particular reason to, and not because Kylin might be there; Fuse just liked going north. And because he didn't _say_ why they were going north, everyone else just followed. Half of them had a feeling they'd regret it, too. And when twenty minutes of walking passed, they did. No matter where they went, everything looked exactly the same. Same craters, same stars, same atmosphere. It was both annoying and disconcerting.

"Hey, boss? Do you _know_ where we're going?" Rouge decided to ask, when Zozma began to groan in misery at having to walk so far. Fuse stopped for a second and looked around. The truth was, he didn't. He didn't even know what part of the universe they were in. But he couldn't just tell them that… could he?

"We're going to find Kylin," he said simply. But that wasn't enough to convince any of them, even the normally easy-going Zozma. The red-haired Mystic looked around quickly, as if proving his unspoken point. Then he shrugged.

"Dude, we're in the middle of space. That guy could be anywhere," Zozma stated, and then blinked as if he just realized something really important, "…wait. If we're in space, why aren't we floating around anymore?" Rouge blinked for a moment as well, and then looked down to see that Zozma was right. They were _walking_ across the meteoroid, and according to most physics, space shouldn't have allowed that. He turned to Blue, raising a concerned brow.

"I thought the laws of physics didn't apply here," the younger mage said, and Blue nodded.

"They normally don't," he replied warily, and glanced to his left, "Something's warping space. I can feel it." Rouge's lips thinned. He couldn't, but he didn't disbelieve Blue. His older brother had always been more sensitive to some things, and warping was one of them.

"What do you think it is?" Rouge asked, but Blue couldn't answer. He didn't know; he wasn't sensitive enough to get _that_ kind of information. Zozma just snorted, shaking his head. As a Mystic, he felt he should've been able to feel such a warping, too. He couldn't help but think Blue was making it up, for once.

"I bet Kylin just got tired and decided he didn't want to screw with gravity anymore," the red-headed Mystic laughed. And immediately, he regretted it as he suddenly yelped and was blown right into the air, so far up that eventually they couldn't even see him. And he didn't come back down. Ildon's mouth dropped. Zozma was _gone!_

"Z-Zozma!?" he asked, eyes widening like a terrified kitten, "Who did that to him!?" He snapped back to everyone else, his brows creasing as he looked into each and every face. But it was clear that whoever did this wasn't one of them. They looked just as confused and mortified as he was. Then… who was it?

"That would be me," said a calm voice, and out of nowhere, a big, brown goat-like creature with a green mane materialized, floating in mid-air as he surveyed the group. His eyes were a dark blue, and somehow, he seemed amused. Which was funny, because he didn't appear to express emotions. Everyone just paled when they saw this creature, but Fuse merely waved and gave a sly smile.

"Hey, uncle Kylin," Fuse said calmly, and if their mouths hadn't dropped before, they did now. Did Fuse just call Kylin his _uncle!?_

"What do you mean, _uncle Kylin!?_" Rouge asked him, turning sharply to stare at his boss, "Didn't you say you had a grandfather who was a bomber, and an arsonist for a father!?" Fuse nodded, and passed that off as a non-event, despite it being true. He shrugged.

"They both died in a fire when I was ten," the older cop reasoned casually, "I was so pissed that I took my dad's old jetpack and decided to hightail it into the sun. I kind of took a wrong turn somewhere, though." Everyone continued to stare as if Fuse was an idiot. Rouge's eye twitched as he tried to put the logic together. And he failed, too.

"You took a wrong turn!? How can you _take a wrong turn!?_" he demanded in exasperation, throwing his arms up, "You were heading _toward the sun!_ All you had to do was go _up_!"

"Yeah. It didn't happen like that," Fuse replied coolly, "See, I turned my dad's jetpack on and it went way too fast. I ended up tearing a bit of space and flew right into it." Rouge's confusion just worsened. No human could logically do that and live. Then again, this was Fuse and he didn't work well with logic. At least, not _normal_ logic.

"But that's not a wrong turn!" Rouge argued, as Ildon rose an amused brow and asked, "So you met Kylin and he raised you like a son?" Fuse ignored Rouge's point altogether, and more or less nodded at Ildon. After all, this was over twenty years ago. It was kind of accurate. Except that he hadn't seen Kylin since he graduated from the IRPO academy. And that was a while ago. He whistled, rocking back on his heels.

"Yeah, kind of. See, what actually happened was this," Fuse began, and something like a flashback began right in front of their eyes, "I just wanted to blow the sun apart, because I was ten and thought all things fire came from the sun. Simple enough logic, right? Well, unfortunately, they don't teach physics in Manhattan. They don't teach much of anything there, so I didn't realize that going over 650 MPS in an upward arc would literally slice through the fabrics of space. I literally fell right into space." Ildon nodded as if that made absolute sense. But to Rouge, it didn't. It _had_ to take more than that in order to rip apart space! The general theories of relativity said it did! And why would the old legends lie?

"But I thought you had to be faster than the speed of light in order to even begin achieving that!" Rouge exclaimed, as Blue tilted his head and asked, "What does MPS mean, sir?"

"Miles per Second," Kylin answered for Fuse, and he sounded somewhat bored of the conversation as a whole, "Normally the theories of gravity do control what space can and can't do, but you're forgetting that _I_ rule space. My influence overpowers those laws, children. In fact, for that matter, you could say I made those laws up myself! I could very well have done so at the beginning of space!" Rouge's head was ready to spin. The beginning of _space?_ Sure, he'd heard rumors of there being a beginning to time, but he had never once imagined a point at which space had never begun. Many worlds had believed a single god created their each and every world specially. Technically, that might be the case with Kylin, but if this ever reached the other worlds, cataclysms would occur. Rouge looked up at Blue. He was equally as perplexed. He just hid it better.

"But why would you disregard such crucial laws?" Blue asked the creature, and Kylin attempted what sounded like a chuckle. Humans, he decided, were as stupid as Mystics.

"Crucial laws?" the old goat repeated, "My dear boy, there are _no laws_ in space! It is literally the voids of nothing! Gravity, light, sound, velocity, they're all just variables meant to be played with until I find the right formula to create a new world! The only reason those _laws_ exist are to keep mortals like you from finding out." Rouge's eye twitched. That had to be the stupidest reason to make up an entire legacy concerning the contexts of space. Especially if they ended up being false.

"But… we already know about it," he pointed out meekly. Kylin turned to him, and pawed the ground impatiently. That wasn't the point.

"So there are some _tiny_ flaws to my plan. The point is, I control space and no one has yet to find the formulas to prove otherwise," he stated smugly, and then his calm returned, "Now, I won't kill you yet because my nephew's here. But what in all things Esper are you mortals even doing out here?" Fuse stepped forward. If he was going to get this case solved, he knew it'd be because Kylin raised _him_. He bit his lip. This might take diplomacy, and he just wasn't good at that.

"Relax, uncle. We're actually here to solve a case. We ain't here to mess with your laws or realm," the cop said. Now Kylin looked interested. He sat down on the ground, and tilted his head. His mane billowed a bit.

"That's good news for the other Espers, then," the goat laughed, and asked, "What kind of case is it, though? Why involve me?"

"See, that's the thing. Someone in the last case we were at said _you_ gave him your power," Zozma said, as he slowly descended downward. But he didn't land on the ground; Kylin was still mad, and he froze the red-headed Mystic in mid-air. "Awww, come on! It was a joke!"

"It wasn't a funny one," Kylin replied flatly, and turned back to Fuse, "Well, it is true I did that, but it's not because I'm losing my touch there, son. You understand that controlling space is a big responsibility, right?" Fuse nodded, and Kylin said, "Right. I needed some help, so I went to a different time zone and gave a piece of my power to a nobleman to keep temporarily. I had too much to create a new world, and I was afraid such conduction would set of a chain reaction and blow up any of the worlds in Oblivion quadrant eight-forty-nine." Fuse looked down for a moment, and snapped his fingers.

"Damn, that's dedicated to the F-Fantasies and the stars of destiny, too," Fuse remarked, and then grinned, "Okay, so you had to put your power in a temporary vessel so you didn't destroy those worlds. Can you take it back now?" Unfortunately, if Kylin could portray sheepishness, he did. He shook his head.

"I can't. When I used my power to warp space enough to travel through time, I broke the portal into that plane," Kylin explained, "Looks like space and time aren't as interchangeable as we want just yet. Parallel, but not completely interchangeable. Problem is that whoever rules time isn't as strong as me, and my power broke whatever tool he has to watch time with." Rouge's eyes widened and he looked at Blue again. Judging by the shock on the older mage's face, they came to the same conclusion.

"The Time Lord's clock!" Rouge hissed, and the Time Lord smiled and said, "So _that's_ what happened. _You_ used my clock!"

"Sorry about that one, Time Lord. You understand, right?" Kylin asked, and the Time Lord nodded.

"Oh, of course, of course," the Time Lord replied, but then his smile vanished, "But in doing so, you've broken many of the tools I use, and that anyone in the west wings of Oblivion can access. Time isn't being managed over there." Everyone stared at each other in confusion. They had gotten the part where Kylin used the Time Lord's realm to do his work, but the rest was lost in a rush of gibberish that only the eldest Mystic and the creature before them understood. Zozma was the only one with the nerve to stress that.

"Okay, so then all we have to do is fix up time and then we can go and get that power back, right?" he asked, as Rouge said, "I thought we fixed that clock already." The Time Lord nodded slowly, but his frown worsened.

"You did, but there are other mechanisms that haven't been restored. I had to learn what happened before I just went to repairing the continuum of time," the old Mystic said sternly, "Or else I'd just have to deal with the problem again. And I can't have that. Time is very, very fragile." Rouge wasn't entirely sure just how fragile time truly was, but he was willing to take the Time Lord's word for it. Besides, they were currently in space, and _space_ was fragile, too, so Rouge couldn't complain. Not unless he wanted to end up like Zozma. And he certainly didn't. He turned to Fuse.

"Should we head there and fix this mess up before the universe collapses?" he asked, and Fuse nodded accordingly. For once, he actually looked like he was taking this seriously. Which was funny, since he didn't know a damn about space.

"Seems like the right thing to do," the older cop replied, and looked over at the Time Lord and Kylin, "Okay, we need to head back to the plane of Time if we're going to fix this. Any ideas how to get there?" Kylin raised one hoof, or at least tried to. Then he snorted and shook his mane impatiently.

"I know of one, son. Follow me," the goat said, and let out a roar so powerfully loud that it ripped apart a tiny piece of space, creating a swirling vortex before him. It was a swirling mass of purple and blue energy, and without a word, Kylin stepped right through it. Blue and Rouge exchanged nervous glances. This was a very powerful form of magic, one neither of them had ever experienced before. Who was to say any of them would even live?

"Should we go through?" Rouge asked, eyeing Fuse, Ildon, and Orlouge as they followed. Blue took a breath, and shrugged helplessly.

"What choice do we have right now? If we don't, we'll be stuck in a plane that will resume its natural course," Blue replied firmly, "Right now, Kylin's keeping us alive. Once he leaves, we might die. Choice seems simple enough." Rouge nodded, and taking hold of his older brother's arm, he walked through the portal. And he prayed to whatever god that listened that they'd all survive. Even Ciato, if he managed to fly in with them.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, the mystery behind Kylin's power transfer is fixed, but the case against the Time Lord's realm is thrown wide open again. Armed with guns, spells, and a wee bit of space, our traveling team of heroes must now fix whatever it was that Kylin broke before time itself collapses. The question is, can they? Or will everyone face the entire destruction of Oblivion itself? Find out next chapter, so click that review button!


	39. The Land Before Time XXX

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they don't like that I'm dragging this story out forever. I say to hell with them.

Rouge was sure that, at some point in his life, he had a nice, little view of what the world and everything about it should look like. He knew what trees were, and he knew where the sky was. He learned about rocks and buildings and things that really should've stayed on the _ground_, where gravity ruled like a bad king. But as soon as he stepped through that portal, his tiny, miniscule idea of what everything should look like was erased. It was like things were being scrunched down and stretched out at the same time, and if you looked at something too closely, you'd quite literally fall into the depths of insanity. No. It _was_ insanity itself, personified, and unadulterated. Rouge felt his brain twitch just trying to understand how a tree could be upside-down and down-side up _at the same time_.

"Where are we!?" he finally asked, tearing his eyes from the tree. He saw Blue struggling to float around; the magician was completely frozen in space, but he was still able to move around. Mainly, he was literally trying to _swim_. And he looked ridiculous, too.

"Some sort of temporal rip, if you ask me," Blue replied with a grunt. Obviously, he wasn't having the easiest time trying to get around. Above him, Zozma just sort of spun around in a circle. How he managed to even get into the chamber, Rouge couldn't even begin to question. It was just a relief to know the crazy Mystic was all right.

"Some stupid pile of bullcrap we won't even understand, no doubt!" the red-headed Mystic exclaimed, and immediately regretted it. No sooner than the words left his mouth was he slammed right on his head by a force that was, quite literally, unseen. Then, Kylin materialized right behind him. And if he wasn't a _goat_, he most likely would've looked annoyed. Or pissed off. At the same time.

"Right now, we're in the voids of Oblivion," the old goat explained calmly, completely ignoring Zozma's groan of agony, "It takes time to get from plane to plane, and sometimes even we get it wrong. Give it some time." Rouge just blinked. He hadn't even heard of Oblivion, but something told him it was a little worse than space was. And you couldn't even _breathe_ in space! He looked around quizzically. Then he looked back at Kylin.

"I hate to be disrespectful, but we shouldn't even be allowed to _live_ here, let alone _wait_," the young mage commented. Kylin's look went flat. He wasn't in the mood to be chastised by a _baby_, in his mind.

"I said _give me a minute!_" the space keeper said irritably, brows creased. Inevitably, Zozma took the worst opportunity to open his mouth as he floated gently around them.

"Technically, you said _give it some time_," he pointed out. Kylin's left eye twitched as he turned to regard, somewhat resentfully, this insolent, little _pest_.

"If you're going to correct me, I'm going to send you to hell next," the goat replied blandly, "I am the _master_ of space! For all you know, I said _give me a minute_ sixty _years_ ago!" Zozma just rolled his eyes. The Time Lord already tried that path of logic, and it didn't work back then, either. He snorted and nudged Blue in the ribs.

"Should we tell him we've already been to hell and back?" the Mystic asked. Blue gave him a flat look, but said nothing. With Zozma, one did have to be careful; Zozma always took everything literally, even if it might just get him killed. And this would _definitely_ get him killed. And possibly worse, though Blue couldn't imagine what could be worse than death. But he'd let the idiot figure that out for himself.

"If you're the master of space, do you have control over Oblivion?" Blue asked instead, and this time, Kylin's annoyance turned to mild surprise. Normally, humans didn't even know the fabrics of Oblivion existed. Was this human truly interested?

"No one has control over a plane like Oblivion," Kylin began slowly, not entirely sure how much he should entrust to the magician, "It's very much like space; made entirely on the basis of _nothing_. The only difference is that Oblivion is more open to the energies of magic. Space really isn't. You should know this, best of all." Blue hummed and tapped his chin. In a way, that did make sense. His world, and Fascinaturu, were _very_ tuned to the ways of magic, but the other regions he knew of weren't. Even Hahn Nova had a limit to their magical usage, and they were more in tune to it than, say, Shrike was. Was it possible that, in some unexplainable way, the Magic Kingdom and Fascinaturu _bordered_ on the two vastly different planes? He asked Kylin just that, but it wasn't the goat that answered. It was the Time Lord that explained his question.

"It's not so much a bordering, as more of a type of _alternate reality_," the old Mystic said, amusement coloring his voice, "Magic is like a cloak to humans; it covers everything that's 'real' and distorts it a little bit. Oblivion is the same. It's like an overlay for space, because some worlds in Oblivion also exist in Space, but they don't have quite the properties of both. For instance, there is a world called Domino that sits on the very, _very_ edge of Space, just enough for magic to have a hard time settling in. It wasn't like this; thousands of years ago, it sat within Oblivion's borders, but space and the effects of gravity and magic, given its very tiny landscape, caused it to shift from one realm to another." This made Blue's head spin a little bit. In the Magic Kingdom, he was given a basic understanding of physics to explain why magic existed at all. It _never_ once mentioned a realm called Oblivion. Was it possible that Oblivion itself disregarded all modes of physics? Once again, he asked this. The Time Lord laughed.

"It doesn't discard _all_ laws, but it does warp them a bit. That's what happens when you're in a realm governed almost completely with magic," the lord continued, and smiled, "So, in effect, this should really be considered the realm of Magic, rather than Oblivion. But so many of the worlds in this realm deal with creatures that are, to humans, almost unsightly. It truly is more of an abyss than a realm." Blue nodded, doing his best to take this all in. If it were possible, when they left, he'd have to find a way to come back and do some investigation. A realm entirely governed by magic! That thought was endless! Unfortunately, Rouge didn't look nearly as interested as his brother was. He grunted and looked away.

"All I want to know is _why_ we're even here," he grumbled, crossing his arms, "Can't we just, I don't know, _leave?_" Blue more felt than saw Kylin's annoyance rise. He didn't entirely blame the goat, either.

"If we could, we would," the old creature said gruffly, "But as the Time Lord said, this realm's an _abyss_. Most of the temporal and physical changes _we_ try to make are swallowed up in an endless swirl of _nothing_. It's like shooting a fireball at a Flame Hound." Rouge just moaned. This day just kept getting worse and worse, and if he could've said it, he would've added 'as time went on,' too. But at this point, time didn't even appear to exist anymore. As Kylin stated, sixty years could've easily passed them by, and they wouldn't even know it! That was a terrifying thing to think about.

"This day officially sucks," the young mage stated with a sigh, "So, if we can't leave, what _can_ we do?"

"Dude, you have to relax a little," Zozma replied, and gave one of his all-too-familiar grins, "We're _in the middle_ of three of the most powerful realms! We could definitely cause some havoc here!" Ildon just glared flatly at him, and Rouge shook his head. As much as havoc and destruction appealed to him, Blue _was_ lurking right around the corner. Or just hovering right above them. Plus, Fuse was there, too. And as usual, being completely out of the scope of their normal realm did absolutely nothing to diffuse his sense of 'justice.' Mainly, his sense being whatever he believed in at that time. And at that time, he believed in _not_ destroying the universe.

"Do it and I'm booking you for Extreme Reckless Endangerment," the cop stated seriously, and crossed his arms, "Considering that simple reckless endangerment can get you up to one year for _one person_, you'll probably be _dead_ if you try and destroy the universe." He stopped for a moment and tapped his chin before adding, "Well, that's _if_ you survive, anyway." Blue just slapped his forehead. Considering that Zozma was actually pretty damn powerful for a Mystic prince, Fuse was being as effective as simply going 'Don't do it.' And Zozma, unfortunately, didn't always listen to the word 'don't.' And even worse, he did have some level of knowledge of the law, too.

"Funny, I've never heard of _Extreme_ Reckless Endangerment," he mused, and grinned again, "Is that another law you _made up_?" Silence fell between the two for a moment. Then, Fuse's eye twitched.

"Shut it, soldier!" he shouted angrily, "I _can_ make it a law if I ask my uncle to do it!"

"And considering that Kylin practically _rules_ the universe, that's a risk that's just not worth it," Ildon added flatly. Zozma nodded. As much as he _really_ wanted to do something incredibly stupid, he did respect the fact that Ildon could probably stop him in a variety of ways. Most of which would include a sword. Zozma didn't want _another_ sword in his back.

"Whatever. I just want to see a meteor slam into someone," he said, but no one paid attention. Kylin just grunted and turned in what seemed like a random direction. Rouge turned to see what the old creature was staring at. And he found he shouldn't have. Before then, whatever they were floating in looked bright and colorful, like a bad tie-dye job you'd find on one of those old retro T-shirts. Now, all at once, the background darkened, and stars began to appear, as if they were floating around _in_ space again. And it really hurt Rouge's eyes to see it happen, too. He winced, and if he'd been on the ground, he'd have staggered backwards.

"Okay, where are we _now!?_" he demanded angrily, rubbing his aching eyes. Even closed, he found his eyes were still seeing stars. He began to hate this new realm; as much as he loved magic, he really wanted gravity to take hold again. From both nowhere and everywhere at the same time, he heard Kylin's voice again.

"We're going to a time zone so far back, that neither Oblivion nor any of the worlds within it even existed," the old goat stated, and all at once, everyone gasped at that prospect. Were they traveling through time, or through space?

"Wait, what!?" Zozma asked in disbelief as Orlouge said, "Before anything existed?"

"Why the hell would we want to go _there_!?" Ciato asked, and Rouge's eyes shot open to see that the white-haired Mystic was indeed next to him. But… but _how!?_ The last thing he remembered was Ciato locking himself in the bathroom. And when he asked Ciato this, the white-haired Mystic snorted and said, "When the master of space decides to screw gravity, anyone within a six-mile limit gets involved. So, guess what, boys and girls?"

"Damn, and here I thought we'd actually enjoy this trip, too," Ildon mumbled. Ciato shot him a deadly glare, but no one else seemed to notice the comment. Mainly because Kylin was speaking again.

"To answer your rather dumb question, _Mystic_, we're going to the beginning of time to fix the chambers that were broken," the old creature explained simply, as the stars seemed to move backwards around them, "As I've said, neither time nor space are completely interchangeable. But the problem is, as the master of space, I _warped_ time to find the nobleman. And that included warping space, as well. Because I couldn't track my exact positioning, I'll need to head to the temporal chambers of before-time to figure out how badly I've destroyed time." Rouge shivered. He wasn't entirely big on this whole space-time mumbo-jumbo Kylin was talking about, but it sounded serious enough. It also sounded like Kylin was being particularly reckless this time, but he didn't dare to say that. He didn't need to have his body turned inside-out because he couldn't shut his mouth.

Of course, Rouge did want to ask just what the beginning of time was supposed to look like. But again, he was too afraid for his life to ask. And he found his answer pretty quickly anyway; when the background magically shifted and turned to another replica of space, that was what the universe looked like before time. There was literally nothing but stars. Stars, and a whole bunch of absolute silence. This was a time before even gravity or oxygen existed. But instead of dying immediately, like they _should_ have _before_, they simply floated around, and it didn't appear as if they even needed breathe any longer. That, at least, was a little bit of a relief.

But to see everything as a vacuous, vast plain of _nothing_ was disconcerting. After all, Rouge was only mortal, and so was Blue, and all of the Mystics. For moments on end, all any of them could do was stare at the blankness of it all. In one second, in one instant, everything they had known was demolished. Sent back screaming into the abyss known as time, for who knows how long, and who knew if they'd ever get back? Kylin himself hadn't mentioned certain destruction, but he _wasn't_ mortal. The laws of physics and time didn't apply to him. He had nothing to fear. But for the many innocent souls accompanying him, they certainly did. In fact, it was one particularly brave soul that brought this to his attention.

"Lord Kylin, will we be able to return to our own time, our own world, once this is done?" Blue asked almost timidly. In the midst of such a vast space, his voice felt oddly muted and demure. Kylin didn't look at him as he answered; rather, he seemed to be looking at nothing and everything at once, as though unsure where to head to next.

"If we do this correctly, I should be able to send you all back, safe and sound, to your proper worlds," the old goat said calmly, distantly. Blue blinked a bit, and a slow frown crossed his face. 'If done correctly' didn't sound overly promising.

"What do you mean, 'if we do this correctly!?" Zozma blurted out, and Ildon hissed at him to shut up, "No, I'm serious. What the hell are you saying!? We _can't_ go back!?"

"We are dealing with the very fabrics of space-time right now, at a point before matter even exists," Kylin replied without hint of offense at the outburst, "When encountering something so delicate, caution must be taken to preserve the world as it should be. But the farther back we go, the higher the rate and risk of error. And we are at the _beginning_." Zozma grumbled, but didn't question again. Blue finally understood what Kylin meant. He nodded.

"So anything we do will literally alter or destroy one or all of the worlds, including the ones in both Oblivion and in the other realms," Blue concluded. Kylin turned just enough to see him, and he actually smiled. Not many people would grasp that obvious clue so quickly. Fuse did right to hire that magician, Kylin was sure.

"Now you understand why I'm so angry that you've come to bother me. This problem, we've known about for some time. That's why I was asked to create a new world," Kylin explained, and turned back to whatever it was he was looking at, "Too much magic, and too much power has influenced over seventy-nine worlds in the southeastern sector of Oblivion, and it's spilling over into the other realms as well. The new world was _supposed_ to hold all of that extra power until Bahamut knew what he should do with it." Blue and Rouge just exchanged very confused glances. Neither had ever heard of Bahamut before, and both had a feeling they'd be getting another lesson in magic that was _conveniently_ banished from the Magic Kingdom.

"Who's Bahamut?" Rouge asked, and everyone fell silent. Rouge's face blanched; to him, he asked an innocent question. But obviously, his ignorance was more of an insult than actually spitting in someone's face. And as if his life weren't ironic enough, Fuse was the one to actually answer the question.

"Bahamut's the ruler of all magic, boy," the older cop said quietly, almost darkly, "It's said that the world 'o the Espers was forged from his breath, way back in the before times, and that he himself gave birth to the great Winchester line." Then, the cop tapped his chin when he saw Rouge's reaction and finished with, "Don't they teach you this shit in your homeland?"

"The Magic Kingdom prefers to use science and mathematics to explain the physical manifestations of magic," Blue replied calmly, almost worriedly, "They leave all forms of fantasy away from their schooling unless it's avoidable." Rouge snuck his brother a flat glance. From the way that sounded, the kingdom was highly limited in their magical views.

"Bro, I hate to say this, but the _ruler of magic_ seems pretty unavoidable right about now," the younger mage stated, and snorted, "Especially since we're magicians and all." Blue nodded in agreement, and then turned to ask Ildon for more details; he was more than old enough to know something, wasn't he? But when Blue saw him, he regretted his choice. Ildon looked positively spooked by the mere mention of Bahamut. As did the other Mystics, now that Blue thought about it.

"Bahamut… _ordered_ you to build a new world?" Ildon whispered, as Zozma's brow creased and he exclaimed, "That stupid lizard doesn't know when to just leave us all the hell alone!" Rouge stared at the two Mystics with utter bewilderment, but Blue seemed more sympathetic. Probably because he knew something was up with them.

"What happened?" Blue asked them both, "Who is Bahamut? Do you know him?" Zozma nodded grimly, but it was Ciato who provided the detailed answer. And the white-haired Mystic looked absolutely gaunt about it, too. Any amusement or resentment in his face had left; all that played across him was a seriousness that not even Orlouge expected.

"Bahamut is the king of all Espers," Ciato began, and all around, it felt like time stopped, as if time itself cowered in fear of the name, "Long ago, there was a terrible clash between the Espers. Evil ones versus the good ones, and it became so extreme that the race literally split in two. And Bahamut?" Ciato snorted, and then laughed hysterically as he said the next sentence, "He was so ignorant and rude as to call those evil Espers… _Mystics!_" Rouge's mouth fell open. Did that mean that Ciato was… no. He wasn't. As soon as Rouge even thought that, Ciato's face screwed up into a nasty scowl and he said, "Don't be a fool, Rouge. I am no Esper. We're a separate race entirely."

"But why would he do that?" Blue asked. Kylin hummed for the first time in what felt like a while, and everyone turned to him. Suddenly, he looked amused with the conversation. He patted over to them and sat down on some sort of invisible flooring.

"It was an accident. With so many different races present on every realm, we cannot _possibly_ be expected to remember all of them," the old goat explained gently, and chuckled, "Rest assured, _children_, that Bahamut meant no insult. Now, enough on what happened so long ago. We have another problem, and if we don't get it fixed, you won't exist to dwell on your problem, either." For someone like Ciato, who practically _lived_ to harp on his problem and everyone else's, that was a pretty good incentive to get this over and done with. He shrugged, turning toward nothing in particular.

"Whatever. If I see that stupid dragon, though, I'm going to zap him with a phantom," Ciato mumbled. Behind him, he heard Kylin chuckle again.

"You sound like a human we encountered once, not so long ago," the old goat said with another chuckle. Then his face soured as if the memory of said human was actually painful. And perhaps it was. Then he shook his head and let out a grunt. There was still work to be done.

Walking over to nothing in particular, Kylin took a breath and summoned up what looked like a holographic computer. They could see the outlines of a monitor and a keyboard, hovering in mid-air; what amazed them was that it wasn't _actually_ real. It was just that: an outline. With a glance past his shoulder, Kylin signaled to the Time Lord, and the old Mystic walked over smoothly, examining the wonderful creation with awe. To the others, who weren't nearly as old, it was interpreted as a trick of the light, and in some cases, actual magic. But to the Time Lord, it was the terminal of the first records of time. It was beautiful.

But he didn't have a lot of time to admire it. There was work to be done indeed, and as Blue watched both of the elder creatures at work, he was aware they were whispering to each other. Of what, he could only guess, but he noticed their growing concern as they'd glance at the screen, whisper, input something he couldn't see, and then repeat the process again and again. Taking an educated guess, he dared to look around to see if perhaps they were trying to take them somewhere else. But everything looked the same. Something had to be wrong.

Even Rouge was acutely aware of his brother's worry. He didn't know much about the other realms, not as much as Blue, but he knew enough to see that there might be a problem. Realms, he understood, were delicate in their base form. To screw around with them in that state literally resulted in life or death scenarios of the worst kind, and they were literally altering time _before anything even existed_. For all he knew, they were killing millions of people by altering one variable. Or perhaps they were giving life to the Grim Reaper himself.

"Want me to cast a spell so we can hear them?" he whispered to Blue, as the Time Lord cursed and fretted over the machine. But Blue shook his head, crossing his arms.

"We may not want to know," he reasoned calmly, and looked at his brother, "What do you think could be wrong?" Rouge had no idea; anything could've happened at that point. But Zozma, ever the creative force of the temporary team, had a few ideas. And no matter how stupid they seemed, he always shared them. He grinned.

"Maybe they messed up and blew our world up!" the red-headed Mystic declared, a bit too proudly for Blue's comfort, "Come on! Imagine how awesome that'd be!" Sadly, the thought of seeing their beloved world turning into a smoldering fireball of death just didn't appeal to Blue, and it certainly didn't appeal to Rouge, Ildon, or Ciato, either. Even Fuse, so normally tuned out to Zozma's nonsense, shook his head at such a stupid accusation.

"Fire ain't funny to laugh at, boy, and my dad was an arsonist," the older cop scolded sternly, and frowned, "Why, I remember the wildfire of '64. Tons of houses and stuff burned in about six hours, and no one was laughing about that one. No one except my dad, and that's because he started it." If he meant to actually make a point, he failed entirely. But he did send everyone practically speechless with his story. Mainly because no one knew how to respond to sheer stupidity. Rouge blinked for what felt like an eternity. For a guy who dedicated his life to the law, and preserving what he thought was it, Fuse certainly had a questionable background.

"Right, and why were we supposed to care?" Ciato asked, and everyone stared at _him_ now. He gave a cocky grin, "Didn't that happen about sixty-some-odd billion years from now? Technically, did it even happen at this point?" Fuse's mouth opened, ready and waiting to fight the Mystic on that note. Then, he closed his mouth. They _were_ at the very beginning of time, at the very edge of all the realms. Technically, Ciato was right. _Nothing_ happened at this point, because time didn't exist yet. Humanity hadn't created it. He turned away quickly.

"Why don't we just ask my uncle about it, for that matter?" Fuse decided aloud, and Ciato laughed triumphantly. For once, Fuse didn't have a good comeback, or even a stupid one that _sounded_ good. But he did have a decent suggestion, and when it came right down to it, that was one they all decided to follow. The only problem was, whatever was wrong was so bad, that neither Kylin nor the Time Lord paid the least bit attention to any of them, even as Zozma took out his sword and poked them with it. Blue and Rouge stood in the back a bit, watching the whole time. Something wasn't quite right here.

"Bro, what're you thinking?" Rouge asked Blue, when he saw how focused Blue had gotten. Blue's lips thinned. In truth, he was worried. Kylin had said this might be complicated, but with two masters of two separate realms working together, it should've been simpler. And since only one realm existed at this point in time, it should've been quick, too. Had one variable come out of sync? Or had something happened to _make_ it register incorrectly?

"What if Kylin can't fix what he's done?" Blue asked, and Rouge frowned deeply, "You heard him, Rouge. If even one thing is triggered, our world might have been destroyed before it was even created. What if something happened? What if he warped space badly enough to warrant his power being _lost_?" Rouge didn't like that possibility. Magic was rarely ever lost; it always went _somewhere_, be it some pocket of space for safekeeping until someone else could tap into it. But if Kylin gave someone else access to space magic… Blue's theory might be right. He looked at his brother incredulously. Then he turned sharply and, pushing past Ciato and Ildon, ran to where Kylin was sitting. He looked at the screen quickly, searching it for any clues as to what might've been happening. But all he saw were dots that seemed to pinpoint various points on a line. He couldn't understand it.

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Rouge asked, looking up at the Time Lord, who finally seemed to notice that they had all been watching. There was an amused, little smile on the old Mystic's face. He pointed his chin toward the screen.

"There are some breaks in the timeline that we can't quite seem to repair," the Mystic said simply, tapping his foot on the ground, "And until we do, we can't fix what's been broken. That may explain the shakiness in my realm."

"So are you saying we're _stuck_ here!?" Ciato demanded furiously, brows creasing in a sharp V. The Time Lord merely glanced behind his shoulder and gave a curt nod. He wasn't in the mood to be yelled at right then.

"We have no choice. There's technically no time to travel on," the old lord replied calmly, but seriously, "Some of them are so tiny that we _can_ repair them, but some have gaps as long as six thousand years. We can't just allow six thousand years of time to be lost. It could destroy the very foundations of evolution." Ciato's eye twitched. This was why he hated humanity so much; leave it to stupid things like _evolution_ to screw up what should've been an easy problem to fix. To him, it was as simple as using some magic and then going home. Then again, he wasn't the Time Lord and he didn't give a crap about time. He was immortal, for crying out loud!

Finally, he snapped. He wasn't quite sure what caused it or why, but he snapped. There was no logical reason for it; literally, the mere thought of floating around in the time-space continuum, before time or space even existed, where one false move would wipe out his existence, drove him off the deep end. There was no logical reason, just like there was no logical explanation for what he did to end the madness. His breath went ragged, and before he could even get a grip on what he was doing, he pushed the Time Lord out of his way and stormed up to the terminal. Whether he wanted to destroy it, bash it, or work on it, he wasn't sure. He just had to do _something_ to alter this.

Eyes glowing, he looked at the screen. Nothing but a bunch of numbers and symbols in a formula he couldn't understand. Variables, as Kylin called them. His wings quivered. Again with those foolish human mathematics! Pressing a button, he wiped the screen clear. He was only mildly aware that there were others watching him. Others that might be disapproving of his bold act of madness.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing!?" Zozma asked, eyes widening as he realized what Ciato did, "Stop! You might destroy this plane!"

"What of it!?" Ciato snapped back furiously, "I'm tired of this world! I'm tired of this job! I'm ending this nonsense and going home!" Zozma's mouth dropped, but he was too frozen in terror to do anything. Fuse, who'd watched with mild amusement, just snorted and looked away.

"Funny. I don't remember hiring you," he mumbled. Zozma's attention came crashing back and he stared at the old cop for a minute.

"That's not the point!" the red-head cried out in exasperation, and clutched his forehead, "Ciato, are you crazy!? You could kill us all!" Unfortunately, that didn't stop the mad Mystic's idea or desire. He glanced back, his eyes so blazingly red that it sent shivers up Zozma's spine. Zozma wasn't used to feeling fear.

"You act like that's bad," Ciato growled, and turned back, pressing a button, "This little rabbat went to the slaughterhouse." He pressed another button and they heard a loud explosion, "This little rabbat went to the grave." He pressed another button, and space itself seemed to quake in terror, "This little rabbat went to hell. And _this_ little rabbat went _home!_" Grinning psychotically, Ciato pressed one more button. And this time, Ildon and Zozma reacted. They both rushed to him, swords drawn, attempting to stop him before what they knew would happen happened.

"Ciato, stop it!" Zozma cried, as Ildon screamed, "_You don't know what you're doing!_" But they were too late. The button had been pressed. And just like that, time stopped. Everything stopped. The terminal disappeared, the stars around them burned out and died, and the background changed to pure darkness. In just one second, everything ended.

And yet Rouge was aware he was still alive. Within that one second, another passed, and then another. Then a minute passed, and for all he knew, an hour after that. But he dared not to open his eyes. How could he open them and see that nothing existed? How could he see and accept that he was nothing more than a phantom floating in the continuum, that his brother shared a similar fate? That everything he loved was gone; so close and yet worlds and planes apart? And how could he accept that Ciato was the cause of it all? The same Mystic who had pulled him out of harm's way, had respectfully left him alone, and who he was beginning to relate to. How could he have done this?

As time ticked away, Rouge knew he had to face what could be the end of his life. He had done it before. He had seen death when Blue killed him. But this was different. What Blue had done was forced upon them both. Ciato did this out of hatred, not out of survival. He had to see where this led. And taking a breath of fresh air, Rouge's eyes shot open.

What he saw nearly paralyzed him. He was not dead, and neither was Blue. They were in a desert, a barren waste, and neither were harmed. But where was everyone else? As he looked, Rouge saw that only he and Blue were there, wherever they were. For miles, all he saw were rocks, sand, and dunes, rippling under the day's heat. But no signs of life, either Human, Mystic, or Esper. Where did Ciato send them? Rouge wanted to ask this, but no one could've answered. And he feared they may have been killed. But he had survived, and that had to be proof that the others had, too. And so, Rouge stood up.

The sand beneath him felt solid and grainy. That gave him reassurance, as did the feeling of his foot landing on actual ground. Being trapped in space, he had lost all sense of gravity. It felt wrong just to be _standing_, but it was reassuring to not float off in random directions. After walking in place to get a sense of balance, Rouge moved to his next objective: to help Blue. The elder mage was alive, and breathing. That was another reassurance. As Rouge bent down, he felt his brother's warm breath on the back of his hand, and he smiled. Blue survived, just as he had. Which meant that he should do the brotherly thing and wake Blue up. After all, it did look as if the mage were simply sleeping.

"Blue, wake up!" Rouge said, shaking Blue as he used to when they were kids, "Come on! We have to go!" Blue moaned in annoyance, and stirred, turning and staring at Rouge with one open eye. And he grunted.

"Go away. I'm tired," he mumbled. Rouge almost laughed. That was a typical Blue response. But the severity of the situation robbed him of his usual snarkiness. He frowned.

"We're in a different world, I think," Rouge said seriously, and Blue's eyes shot open, "We're actually _somewhere_. I just don't know where." Blue sat up quickly. They were someplace… but they couldn't have been in another world. Could they? Was Ciato that powerful? He was only a Mystic Prince, and a somewhat young one at that. But he did have magic beyond even Blue's…

Blinking to clear away the exhaustion he felt, Blue looked around to see exactly what Rouge meant. The barren desert stretched on for miles, a sea of sand, with not a tree nor a rock in sight. But where in their world was a desert? Blue had learned many of his world's natural habitats; deserts hadn't been one of them. But that didn't mean they couldn't exist. Except that he _knew_ this was no area marked on any modern maps. He wasn't quite sure how he knew. Call it intuition. His guts told him Rouge might be right. But if that were true, the others should have been with them.

"Rouge, where are the others?" Blue asked him gently. Rouge's lips thinned. That one, he couldn't answer. Nor did he want to. Their friends could've been lost forever in the vortexes between space and time, and they couldn't recover them. And the one man who caused it… Rouge's skin paled and he turned away. Inside, he felt torn up. He wanted to hate Ciato, but something was stopping him.

"I have no idea," Rouge said, his voice shaky with anger. Blue noted that, but was smart enough not to press. Rouge may have been nicer, but he had a violent temper, too. He was the emotional one of the two, after all. Blue turned toward one direction. They had to start somewhere.

"Pretty safe to assume it might be impossible to find them. Rouge… what happened before we came here? Do you even remember?" Blue asked, not even realizing how much that question hurt. The truth was, Rouge knew. Blue was too focused on making sure the Time Lord was all right. But Rouge was focused on Ciato. The man lost his mind. And Rouge saw what happened. But was he the only one who saw? No… Ildon and Zozma had seen, as well. Fuse may have, too. He looked down.

"N-no. I didn't," he replied, knowing Blue might know he was lying. But if he did, the older magician didn't state it. Blue just nodded and stood, looking stoic and gaunt in the blazing sun. He didn't know where they could go, but any place seemed better than this. He stood staring, just a few seconds, out over the wastes. It was silent.

"We'd better start looking, then. Maybe we'll find some clues… somewhere," Blue suggested, glancing at his brother. Rouge nodded, but Blue sensed he wasn't entirely there on that subject. And while it worried him, Blue didn't press. He took a breath, and clapped his brother on the back as he said, "We'll find them. Don't worry."

"I know, Blue. I know we will," Rouge replied distantly. Blue looked at his little brother just once more, and with a heavy, worried heart, began to lead him onward. Where they were heading, neither of them knew. But their friends… Fuse, Ildon, Zozma, even the elder Mystics and Kylin. They _would_ be found. Even if it took the brothers to the farthest plane of existence. Blue had to believe that. He had to for Rouge's sake.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, Ciato managed to royally screw everyone to their early graves. After just one or two jobs, the old Mystic finally snapped and destroyed the universe. It's just too bad there's more than one universe. Stranded in one of them, Blue and Rouge must now search for their friends and find a way home. Can they? Or has Ciato destroyed everything? Will this be the final leg of our twins' quest? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	40. It's Just like a SciFi Show Now

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they think a warp in time should've been used to explain the whole SGF II crossover I pulled. I can only say this: Oops.

The desert seemed endless. Without a watch, Blue wasn't sure how long they'd been walking, but surely it must've been for some time. They must've covered some level of distance. And yet it was hard to tell. Everything looked the same, in every direction, and without a landmark or natural outcropping of rock or trees, it was almost impossible to say where they were going and where they'd end up. Even the sun, which normally moved west during the course of the day, did not appear to complete its westerly descent. It barely seemed to have moved at all. But its effects were apparent. Blue found he was thirsty as all hell.

But he didn't complain, and he didn't state his findings to Rouge. As Blue glanced at his twin, he saw the man had his own worries, his own problems separate from those that currently plagued them. And while Blue wanted to know what was wrong, he understood how focused Rouge could get. Asking might just cause the young mage to shut down, and that was the last thing Blue wanted.

As they continued through the endless, stormy, sandy abyss, however, Blue found it harder and harder to keep his curiosity down. Normally, Rouge would've done anything to keep the silence away. Even as a kid, Rouge hated to be alone. But he wasn't saying anything, and in all honesty, Blue wondered what could keep Rouge so distant. It wasn't anger; what would Blue have possibly done, anyway? Nor did it have anything to do with Blue. The older mage was well aware of that. But what could it have been?

Blue tried to think on what was said when he first came to. Maybe that could explain Rouge's silence. But nothing much had been said at all. Literally, they had spoken just enough for Blue to understand they weren't in their world, nor were they in the time-space continuum. He tried breaking that little conversation down. Maybe there was something Rouge had said, something in his tone, that could help him figure out what was wrong. But there wasn't. Did he know where the others were? No, he hadn't. Did he _see_ what happened?

'_N-no. I didn't_.' Blue suddenly stopped. That was what he had been looking for. Rouge had hesitated. Rouge never hesitated. But Rouge also never lied, either. Blue turned to look at his brother. Rouge didn't even notice he had stopped, and nearly collided with Blue until the elder mage stopped him. Rouge looked up at him with blank eyes.

"Rouge, are you sure you didn't see anything at all?" Blue asked again, this time his tone a bit more severe. Rouge blinked for a minute, and on the inside, he panicked. Nothing ever escaped Blue's attention. But for some reason, despite Ciato's previous behavior, Rouge didn't want to put him in danger. Even if he did deserve it; he didn't deserve to be erased from time. He took a deep breath. He'd have to be a little bit more convincing to get past Blue.

"Not really. I saw some explosions and that's about it," Rouge lied, trying his best to sound casual and calm, "I think I had my eyes closed, but I can't really remember. The screaming makes everything a bit hazy." Blue nodded, but wasn't entirely sure how seriously he should've taken the answer. But he let it pass anyway. Even if Rouge was holding something, it wasn't a problem just yet. He'd press again when it became one.

Pressing on, Blue began to see just why travelers had often said the most arid regions of their world were the most dangerous. The heat was beginning to play tricks on him. Off in the distance, the heat caused air to waver, rippling in the sunlight as if space were truly warping. This wasn't exactly a surprise; this happened anywhere when heat was applied. But actually _seeing_ things within those spaces was another matter. And they weren't normally what you'd find in a desert, either. Blue had imagined, should he hallucinate, that he'd see an oasis or a cactus, or maybe a monster or two. But why, on all the realms of the universes, was he looking at the old boarding home he and Rouge grew up in? And was he the only one who could see it?

"Blue, is it me, or is that our old house!?" Rouge asked him, and ran over to see. That answered Blue's question, and he went to follow Rouge. As he ran down, however, memories began to play themselves in his head: how his parents had died in the wildfires that swept the kingdom, how he and Rouge moved into the house, and their first few days there. It sent shivers up his spine.

"I don't want to be here," he said, almost silently enough to be to himself. But Rouge heard him.

"Aww, come on. We had a lot of fun here," Rouge reminded him. But Blue wasn't convinced. _He_ didn't have much fun. Most of _his_ time was spent in his room, studying and reading as much as he could just to survive some of his tests. Then again, he was always in the highest classes. But so was Rouge, and Rouge always did his work half-assed.

"Studying wasn't fun," Blue mumbled, but Rouge didn't hear him. He was already running up the old steps and pulling the brass door handle. But the door didn't open. Rouge tried again, and it barely budged.

"What the hell?" he blurted out, and banged on the door, "Hey!! Master Klastour! Open up! It's me, Rouge!" But there was no reply, and as he continued his assault on the door, Blue noticed that the inside sounded almost hollow. He grabbed his brother's arm.

"I don't think anyone's in there, Rouge," he said gently, and frowned, "This has to be an illusion. A trick of the heat." But Rouge wasn't convinced. After all, they were _standing_ on this so-called _illusion_. He shook his head.

"I don't buy that. There's got to be a way in," he insisted, and walked across the porch to a rickety window, "Help me bust this thing in."

"Rouge!" Blue cried in alarm, "That's wrong! We shouldn't just break in, not to mention it's _illegal!_" But Rouge wasn't worried. In fact, he didn't seem as if he had even listened to Blue. He raised an amused brow as he lifted the screen, exposing the glassy surface beyond.

"You sound like our boss," Rouge commented mockingly, and added, "Relax, bro. If no one's here, then no one's going to arrest us." Blue was willing to say that _that_ wasn't the point, but Rouge was already preparing to break the glass. How he did it, however, was something Blue wouldn't have thought possible. Especially since Rouge hated martial arts. But all he had to do was give it one good, sturdy kick, and the window was crushed into a rain of glassy shards. All of which shattered on the ground. Blue could only watch with a shocked expression on his face.

"Ha! Just like how Alkarl did it on Alkarl's Stream!" Rouge stated proudly, and hummed a tune as he climbed through the newly destroyed window. Blue blinked, but found himself too overwhelmed with the sheer stupidity of it all to say a damn thing. It wasn't like Rouge _listened_ to him, anyway. Shrugging his shoulders, Blue thought it best to just follow for a bit. And he too climbed through the window.

The inside of the old boarding school was dusty and smelled of mildew, the motes swirling through the air looking a visible brown, if Blue looked at them closely enough. The air felt stale, and dirt seemed to cover the old wooden floor beneath them. From the state of the furniture, which was covered with mold, to the dirty windows, the place looked to have been abandoned for some time. Save for the mice that went scurrying as soon as the window broke apart, of course. Blue could hear them chattering in the walls, tiny little squeaks that meant nothing to him.

Rouge, however, took no notice of the mold or the smells as he walked around the living room, looking at the bookcases and their contents. Magicka Unleash, Aedra and Daedra, The Belmont Legacies, and Time: The complete Edition littered the middle shelf of one bookcase, and Rouge remembered reading them all. Everything was exactly as he remembered it, right down to where the coasters on the tables sat. It was too exact, to be exact. He turned and glanced slightly at Blue. The older mage looked like he couldn't decide whether to touch an old magazine or set it ablaze.

"Blue," Rouge called right as his brother got the courage to reach his hand out, as if the magazine might bite him for it, "What do you think about this place?" Blue snatched his hand away and looked at. He didn't quite process the question at first.

"Oh, uh…" Blue looked around for a moment, and then frowned, "It's as you left it five years ago. Not a thing out of place."

"That's what I mean," Rouge replied, eyes narrowed, "It's just too perfect. Something had to have been moved when I was gone." That was some solid logic, and Blue felt no reason to try and argue. He fully agreed, anyway. But as he looked around and saw the exact state of things, something new bothered him. Rouge had only been gone for five years, and he himself for less than one. The house wasn't this badly destroyed when he had left. Then again, someone could've easily Imploded the house…

No, even with magic, the house wouldn't have been this dilapidated. _Shouldn't_ have been this dilapidated. Carefully, he stepped behind the loveseat, making sure to avoid putting his hand on any patch of mold, or on the furniture at all. Because the parlor and the dining hall were connected, the only barrier _was_ that loveseat, and Blue found himself instantly within the old hall. It looked far worse, and he could smell the rot within the old wooden long-tables, as well as the benches. Already, he could see some of the cushioning losing their stuffing.

"This is wrong," he whispered, as he heard Rouge come up behind him, "We haven't been gone long enough for this to happen."

"It could've happened when Hell literally broke lose," Rouge reasoned, and while that _might_ have been true, there was just one problem: Blue had _seen_ the boarding house. It wasn't like this.

"If it had, the place would have been incinerated," Blue told him sternly, "Mold takes time to grow, and I didn't see any when I visited. And for this level of it…" Blue wrinkled his nose and pointed at a crusty, green-at-the-edges magazine to prove his point. Rouge nodded, not needing any further demonstrations.

"So, what caused it then?" Rouge asked him curiously, "Think everyone just left?" Blue shook his head.

"They'd have used it for another purpose if that was the case," the older magician said, and his brows creased with worry, "But of course, we can't prove this because we're not even in our time zone. For all we know, this happened one hundred years from our time." Rouge hummed. That was a possibility, and as he thought that, he heard clapping from off toward the left. He and Blue both turned. The Time Lord was walking down the old staircase, and didn't seem to care that he was kicking dusty spores up all around him. He looked serene; it seemed out of place in such a squalid environment.

"And you, young one, are exactly right!" the old Mystic exclaimed, his young face breaking into a gentle smile, "I have concluded that this poor establishment comes from approximately two hundred and six years in your future." Rouge blinked, and Blue just glanced from the Time Lord, to Rouge. How on earth did he discover that?

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, how can you be sure?" Blue asked him. The Time Lord took out a pocket watch, and Blue heard a soft ticking in the air.

"Why, my tools, of course," the Mystic replied, and closed the watch, "Every patron to time has a set, though the more skilled you are, the more clocks and gadgets you own." He strode into the dining hall, apparently ignoring the signs of decimation as he walked toward the two, "With quite a few, I was able to scan the micro-fibers of time and deduce their dates relevant to the positioning of space. It said clearly the year was 2205."

"And you don't think your clock could've been messed up," Rouge said flatly. The Time Lord noted the doubt in the young man's voice. He shook his head, also knowing that neither magician had any idea what he actually said to them.

"Impossible," he replied, "The tools of Time aren't like the manmade clocks you humans are used to. They run off of _crystalline cores_, not off of gears. Therefore, unless my core's broken, it should work perfectly." Blue and Rouge exchanged glances. There was a chance his clock _was_ broken. After all, his most precious tool had been, which was what led them to this place in the first place.

"Are you _sure_?" Rouge inquired, as Blue said, "Sir, if Kylin accidentally broke your most sacred clock, wouldn't it stand to reason your other clocks would be affected?" But the Time Lord didn't agree. He smiled patiently and held up his pocket watch. Opening it, he showed them that it was working perfectly.

"Each core is different. Even if one in a series breaks, all others will go on," the Mystic said gently, "Crystals, like people, have life. Only when that life is extinguished, will the clock no longer work." But Rouge wasn't entirely convinced. Through some force Blue didn't understand, he was able to get the clock and open it up, past the clock face, and into the compartment where the gears and gizmos all stood. And in that center was the core in question: it was tiny, but it was pure white and shining brilliantly. If it did have life force, it was very, very strong. Rouge huffed and closed the watch back up. He didn't like being proven wrong.

"Okay, so then we're in the future," he grumbled, "Any idea how to get back?" He looked directly at the Time Lord, but the elder Mystic seemed to have lost his serenity now. Worry crossed his face, and his smile faded. Which meant that what he was going to say, Rouge wouldn't like.

"We're not in the future, young ones," the Time Lord told them, "That is what's bringing me to our problems. We are, to be sure, about two-hundred and twenty four million years into the past." Rouge's mouth dropped. Did he just say two-hundred some-odd _million_ years!? That was so far back that humans didn't even exist yet. At least, not in the state Rouge could imagine. He twitched. He couldn't live with himself and Blue being the only humans left now.

"I thought you said we were in the _future_," he grumbled through gritted teeth. The Time Lord smiled again; unfortunately, right then wasn't the time for a cheerful attitude.

"I said this _establishment_ was from the future," the Mystic corrected calmly, "But we are in the past." At that point, Rouge's mind was blown. He could sort of handle being in the Time Lord's realm. He could kind of understand being in space. He barely got being in the time-space continuum. But this? This was too much. He was so messed up that he heard his brain screaming at him. He looked to Blue.

"How the hell is that possible!?" he asked, praying to the goddess that Blue knew the answer. Blue's skin paled considerably. And that meant one thing: he obviously didn't. But he could wing it. For Rouge's sanity.

"I… guess that time no longer has relevance thanks to the destruction of the time-space continuum," Blue began nervously, not knowing where to actually begin, "So, in effect, maybe there is no such thing as time?" That definitely didn't help Rouge.

"Wrong," the Time Lord cut in, "But close. It's true that with the complete corruption of the continuum, there's little barrier between all of the eras known to man. But that doesn't mean all time zones have merged. It simply means that some aspects from one era can fuse into the timeline of another." Blue seemed to have understood, but Rouge gave up trying to understand the concepts of modern time and physics ten minutes ago. He shook his head vigorously.

"Can you say that again?" the young mage asked, "A little slowly, and speak as if you're talking to a retard." The Time Lord actually chuckled, and Blue patted Rouge's shoulder comfortingly. At least they had the decency to humor him.

"I wouldn't expect you two to understand this," the Mystic said gently, and smiled genuinely, "But basically, time is beginning to merge with one another, so that certain artifacts or landmarks in one zone cross into another, one that has no relevance or connection, at least culturally, to the first zone. For instance, George Washington could be crossing the Delaware, but be doing it in the year 3215, with no idea that he's in the future, or that the Delaware might no longer exist." That only made marginally more sense than before. Rouge decided that if Blue understood this bullcrap, he'd just nod his head and watch it unfold. That was easier.

"Why is the continuum corrupted?" Blue asked, and the question banged on Rouge's mind terribly, "Sir, what happened before the explosion?" The Time Lord looked at Blue seriously for a moment, and his smile faded again. Even in his mind, what happened was hazy at best.

"Unfortunately, young one, I can't recall it too well," he replied, but Rouge caught the glance the Mystic gave him, "But I know we'll learn soon enough. Time tells all." Blue nodded accordingly, but Rouge swallowed hard. If that was true, there really wasn't much point in hiding Ciato's actions. Except that there also wasn't a reason to make Blue angry, either. But did the Time Lord already know?

"I just hope whatever happened hasn't destroyed our timeline yet," Blue said with a shiver, and looked at Rouge, "If even one thing comes out of place, our existence might end right now." Rouge already knew that. Of everything he learned, that part, he understood well enough. But would Ciato, if he was truly responsible, do something so careless? He might have been a jackass, but he wasn't immature. Still, the look on his face…

"If we're quick, maybe nothing will happen," Rouge replied, trying to force Ciato's expression out of his head. The Mystic looked so insane, so angry… so… desperate. As much as Rouge knew what he did was terrible, he felt for the man. It was akin to a rat being trapped in a cage, with a very feral cat. He defended himself. But would the others believe that?

As Rouge said this, Blue thought about how they could act. Technically, they were trapped in this era. With the continuum corrupted as it was, he had a distinct impression that the Time Lord didn't have use of his full set of powers. After all, if he did, why hadn't he warped himself back to the continuum? Blue tapped his chin. This was one case he wasn't sure could be solved. For all his studies, he couldn't recall anything that might help in the case of complete temporal meltdown. If only he weren't mortal…

As for the Time Lord, he seemed content to just let the two magicians think this through for as long as they needed. As Blue had guessed, he had not a shred of his former power, and therefore could do nothing to unmerge this era and preserve it. For that, they'd need the help of the time shard in this world, and that was _if_ it even existed. And if the Time Lord was to remain the Time Lord, he wasn't allowed to tell them this. As a mere observer, he was forced to let them come to their own conclusion. It was common temporal law, of course: to observe, to preserve, and never interfere. And those who broke it, even a Mystic such as himself, would be flung into the endless abyss, the deepest part of Oblivion where time and space had been eradicated, and only the screams of nothing made those poor souls remember what had happened.

The Time Lord shook his head. Such terrible thoughts should be discarded. But still, that rule had been broken once, broken by a young time-keeper with a pocket watch… The Time Lord blinked. Of course! He should have thought of this. That time-keeper, back in Devin! What was his name? Aeon? He might be able to help them. He was a time-keeper like the Time Lord, and though he wasn't nearly as powerful, the adolescent should've been able to go forward and figure out what had transpired, and if recovery was possible. If Time truly collapsed, there would be no organization to penalize the Time Lord…

Then reality set in as Blue and Rouge continued to discuss their dilemma. Even if Aeon was alive, there was no way to contact him. There was no way to contact _anyone_. Not here, not in this era. There were virtually no modes of communication, and dinosaurs weren't smart enough to be able to read, write, and recite. The Time Lord's face scrunched into an ugly scowl. What was the point of immortality when it didn't even serve you in the first place?

"Perhaps we should have a better look at this world," the Mystic suggested, seeing that neither magician was coming to the conclusion, nor would they. Only time-keepers, and a scant few Espers, knew about those time shards. No one else would have. But at his words, both Blue and Rouge looked back at him. And now that he brought it up, they both realized they hadn't seen much of the world at large. They merely went where they felt, without paying any attention. Was it possible there was something to be seen?

"Where do we start?" Blue inquired, as Rouge sighed and added, "And what do we look for? If it's sand, there's a ton of it right here." Normally, the Time Lord would've chuckled, but being out of power made him a tad crankier than usual. His eyes narrowed flatly.

"We start where we please," he said simply, as though that answer should've sufficed. Blue was more than willing to help, but Rouge, tired and wound as he was, was not. He crossed his arms.

"I want to start by going to sleep and pretending this didn't happen," the younger mage grumbled. The Time Lord managed a chuckle, understanding Rouge's frustration. Unbeknownst to the young man, the Time Lord knew more than he let on. Including the incident Ciato caused. Knowing Rouge wouldn't be much help, the old Mystic looked to Blue instead.

"What of you, young one?" the Time Lord asked politely. Blue blinked, trying to get an answer straight. In truth, his idea would be as good as any; he had no idea where they should even begin. The desert, from what it looked like, spanned on for miles, endless miles in all directions. It could take days, weeks, even years before they came across anything, and who was to say that desert didn't cover the entire world? This was, after all, before humanity existed. The land wasn't cultivated, and with no discernable landmarks, their chances of getting lost were relatively high. And their chances of being killed? Well, if dinosaurs roamed the world, that'd be a pretty frequent, and much warranted, fear.

"I know nothing of this world, sir. I can't say for certainty that my ideas won't get us killed," Blue stated simply, and frowned, "Do you know of this world?" The Time Lord's smile became weak, and he looked down. Obviously, the answer was that he didn't.

"I'm afraid I do not," the Mystic admitted quietly, and then brightened, "But regardless, every wonderful adventure has a touch of danger! We shouldn't let this stop us." Blue and Rouge looked at each other, wondering if the lord's previous question was rhetorical or not. He sounded as if he'd made up his mind long ago, and it didn't matter if the twins agreed or not. Rouge just shrugged.

"Sounds good to me, I guess," he said simply, and laughed, "We might as well, seeing as how this place looks ready to collapse." Blue, and more importantly, the Time Lord, couldn't have agreed more.

When they exited the old building, to their dismay, it had only grown hotter in that strange, new world as the day went on. The distance, not even that far at all, looked wavy and warped amidst the great heat. And with the position of the sun as it was, there wasn't a shadow that dotted the barren plains around them. Not surprisingly, Rouge had trepidations about wandering through such an area; mainly, he was concerned they'd burn to a crisp in about five seconds.

"Can it get any hotter!?" he groaned, as Blue walked past him, down the steps, and onto the hot sand, "My god, Blue, if your boots melt, I'm going back inside." Blue looked down. The sand was hot, but it wasn't melting his shoes in any way. Then again, he was wearing the typical heavy-duty, leather-strapped, iron-toed boots that every officer in IRPO wore. He'd have to actually be on fire to have his boots melt, and even then, the damn things might hold up. He shrugged.

"If my boots melt, then I'll just _run_ across the desert," he reasoned. It was obvious the sun fried him a bit. Blue never gave such ridiculous answers. _Now_ Rouge was _really_ worried.

The Time Lord seemed to know where he was going, and when they left the building far behind them, Rouge learned that one loud and clear. The youthful-looking Mystic walked confidently, apparently paying no heed to how warm it was, how humid it was, or how heavily dressed he was, either. He smiled when any bugs buzzed by him, and he stopped only to look up at the sun. Either he was judging their direction, or trying to burn his retinas out. Rouge wasn't sure which was more accurate.

But on the inside, the Time Lord was doing neither. He was actually judging how warped space might've been, if there was any way to contact Kylin. Without his power, that would be a difficult task, and even with his power, space might've been corrupted too badly to make a clear connection. Whatever Ciato had done, he had done it well and in a timely manner. And _how_ he had done it… well, that caused grave concern to the Time Lord. If he destroyed the celestial terminal used to monitor space-time, then there was a good chance the world was doomed.

Of course, the lord didn't dare say this to either Blue or Rouge. Instead, he had to keep them focused. He hated having to hide his knowledge from them, but mortals could only be expected to understand so much. And while he was confident Blue might have been able to handle it, he knew Rouge wouldn't have, and that eventually Blue's limit would be reached. Damn it all, he should have stayed in his own realm!

And still on the side of unfortunate, he wasn't even sure of how he was supposed to keep two young men occupied. He could lead them around, but to what, exactly? He may have thought about finding one of those time shards, but he didn't even know where one might lay. He couldn't even sense it. And perhaps, in so distant a past, so vague a time, perhaps those shards didn't even exist. Except that he was the Time Lord. He was at the beginning of the beginning, with Bahamut, Kylin, Goddess Dihanna, and Plotergratz. He _was_ time itself, personified. If he wanted a time shard, one should have appeared there for him.

Yet he knew that life rarely worked so easily. _Time_ rarely yielded to anyone, even to its own master. And without his power, it would yield even less. If only he hadn't been so careless. If only he suggested the other Mystics stay in Mosperiburg. If, if, if!

"Why don't you both tell me what you know about this era?" the Time Lord suggested gently, as if he were asking two children about their first day of school, "Let's see if you know your time well." Blue tilted his head, wondering what relevance that had, or why the Time Lord didn't know this. Perhaps he was passing the time. Rouge just rose a brow.

"So far, I know it's hot and empty and huge," the younger mage said blandly, almost sarcastically. The Time Lord blinked, taken aback by Rouge's continuing display of apathy toward the new world at large, and looked helplessly at Blue. Blue himself just shrugged; Rouge often went into emotional episodes. This might not have been much different. Except that Blue didn't know what was going on. He didn't know Rouge had seen what happened.

Wanting desperately to help the Time Lord out, Blue took a good look around. It hadn't changed much since they went into the building – it was still bright and the sun still high. And that brought to Blue's attention something very, _very_ wrong. The sun still hadn't moved _at all_ since they even came to this strange world. Time should have been passing as normal, and the sun, tied not to time, but to _space_, should have been setting at least a little bit by now. The world, whatever one they were in, should have been in orbit. But if space was corrupted, did orbits even exist anymore? Maybe this is what the Time Lord was worried about.

Then another thought hit Blue. One that, considering their recent plunge into the whole aspects and physical manifestations of time, should have occurred much earlier. Time wasn't warped. Time was _frozen_. Frozen, save for the three of them. And that could've only been because of their high magical tolerance. Blue shivered. Now that he looked, it really didn't surprise him. Nothing was happening in this desert. There was no wind, the sands didn't shift, and the clouds did not drift in the sky. Blue swallowed hard, and looked at the Time Lord incredulously. Only a powerful master could have been able to conjure this amount of absolute power, to completely freeze one world in a constant state of stasis. And there was indeed a powerful master right there…

"I know that time is frozen," Blue said suddenly, and both Rouge and the Time Lord stopped so suddenly, they nearly fell. Rouge blinked a bit, wondering if he heard his brother right. But the Time Lord looked at him curiously, almost worriedly. Blue continued with, "This entire world is frozen. It has to be."

"What makes you think that, bro?" Rouge asked him, his interest slowly beginning to return. Blue took a deep breath. If this wasn't the case, he'd make a fool of himself. But what was there to lose? The Time Lord asked for opinions, after all.

"Rouge, has it gotten any darker _or_ brighter since we woke up?" Blue asked simply, knowing the best way to convince Rouge would be to let him figure it out, "When have we even seen signs of life from this world? Did the dust motes in the old building even float, or did they just stay in mid-air, unmoving?" Rouge tapped his chin as he considered all of these questions. And he realized that the answer to all of those questions were 'no.' Well, 'no' meaning that all of his answers implied that Blue was right about his theory. His lips thinned.

"What causes it?" he asked the Time Lord, and it was clear that Blue's theory threw the Mystic off balance. His skin paled a bit, his blue hair drooping a bit as he tried to think of an answer. Normally, no one dared to stop time. And time couldn't act of its own accord.

"I've no idea!" the Time Lord exclaimed in alarm, and then sobered, "I mean, there _are_ enemies to the constructs of time, beings who wish to bring such a man-made system down. But I wouldn't believe they'd be responsible." This was no good news for them. That meant that indeed, this was caused directly, possibly by the one who destroyed the celestial terminal. Both brothers glanced at each other, and then returned their looks to the Mystic.

"Why wouldn't they be responsible?" Rouge asked, as Blue's voice dropped, and he demanded, "What beings!?" Blue's stern tone, as well as the look of fury in his eyes, set the Time Lord back again. Normally, he shouldn't have even mentioned the enemies of Time. But if time was frozen, would anyone know? And was this not a special case? Knowing it was now foolish to keep his secrets, the Time Lord began to tell all that he knew.

"These beings, as we call them periodically, are known as Time Reapers, and there is almost always at least one every few thousand years," the Time Lord explained worriedly, "But the reason I don't think they would be responsible is because _without_ time, they wouldn't exist. Why would any of them destroy themselves?" Blue had to stop and think about that one, but Rouge already knew that whatever caused this probably wasn't a Time Reaper. His thought immediately went to Ciato and the ruined terminal. There was a chance that the incident was also responsible for this.

"What if it was just the terminal being destroyed?" Rouge reasoned calmly, and both Blue and the Mystic looked at him for a moment, "Think about it. You said yourself that time and space are corrupted. What if this is just one of those corruptions? Maybe there's nothing to worry about." Hearing Rouge state this so calmly sobered Blue a bit. Even if the younger mage was right, it still didn't discount Blue's contribution, anyway. He smiled warmly at his twin. Sometimes it did pay to have him along.

The only problem now was that the Time Lord didn't share in the carefree idea.

"There is still much to worry about," the Time Lord said grimly, ruining the relief both brothers felt, "If time has been frozen, we still must restore it. Even if there is no true being behind this, it cannot be allowed to continue." That much, Blue had to admit, was true enough. If the world stayed in stasis forever, evolution would never happen. And then they'd _really_ never exist.

"How do we restore it?" Rouge asked, and the Time Lord divulged his most well-kept secret of all. Those time shards he had wanted to find.

"There are, within each world, tiny crystals called _Time Shards_ that allow us time-keepers to control the natural flow of time and awards us certain powers to do it," the Mystic began, and both mages listened carefully, "Most, in your era, have been domesticated, and are produced only within a world called Equinox, scattered by the younger generations who've grown careless in their keeping. But in the past, these fragments of time could have possibly been found anywhere."

"But you're talking two million years before our time," Rouge pointed out seriously, crossing his arms, "Are you sure there'd be one here?" The Time Lord smiled gently. There was something up his elegant sleeves, both brothers understood.

"We are _not_ at the beginning of the beginning. We are in time," the Mystic said cryptically, "As long as time exists, we will find one. It depends only upon the size of the world and how magically encrypted the world is. But there is always, no matter the circumstance, at least one shard in each world." Only because he was the master of Time, did either Blue or Rouge believe him. They glanced at each other, wondering whether the story could be true or not. There was no reason for it not to be. And perhaps they had seen a time shard themselves…

The idea was too much for Rouge not to follow. Any initial hesitation and apathy he had was gone. Actual time shards! Crystallized fragments of magic, and it could be harvested for their use! It was an opportunity he knew Blue would follow as well. Maybe that was why he himself had no trouble accepting it. He gave Blue a solemn look, and there was a seriousness to his older brother that Rouge knew was genuine. Whether it was for his own use or for general curiosity, Blue was more than willing to help find those shards. They both looked at the Time Lord and nodded.

"Count us in!" Rouge declared, as Blue asked, "But where do we start?" The Time Lord tapped his chin for a moment. That was a good question; anywhere seemed a good answer, but in such a vast world, they had to choose their battlegrounds carefully. He took a deep breath and looked toward the far distant mountains. The best place to choose would be a place secluded from human, or at least outside, contact.

But even then, that could possibly constitute everywhere in this world. It'd been a while, and they'd seen nothing except the sand. The Time Lord, however, had been alive long enough to give himself a few good guesses. For starters, a mountain was a good place: full of trees, clean water, and fresh air. Perfect conditions for a shard to maintain purity. So it wasn't much surprise that his instincts made him look up toward those distant ranges. There was a chance the range was as barren as the sands here, but it was a risk he'd have to take. He pointed toward them.

"Shards are sensitive, having a sort of 'life,' if you will. They prefer purer environments than this," he said to the twins, and seemed to assure himself of his point, "We'll begin in those ranges." What surprised him most was that Rouge didn't offer a complaint. And those ranges were easily miles from them. Maybe he was that desperate to go home. Whatever the reason, the Time Lord took it as a blessing.

So, with a new objective, and with the Time Lord as the lead, the three of them started toward the northwest, where those mountains lay. No one was sure of what they'd find, be it monster or crystal, but for now, it was something to believe in. It gave them some level of hope. Rouge felt that was a good thing; he had lost hope when Ciato blew the terminal apart so forcefully, so carelessly. Hope was sourly needed, especially in a world where there was hardly anything at all. But could hope make a time shard appear?

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

After waking up and realizing that they're in a different world, Blue and Rouge set out to find any clues as to their friends' whereabouts. Instead, they find the ruins of what used to be their old home, when they were children. When they can't explain its mysterious appearance, the Time Lord suddenly comes out of hiding, explaining all he can to the two brothers. Now, armed with the knowledge of the collapse of time and space, as well as the mysterious _time shards_, Blue, Rouge, and the Time Lord set out to find just one of those shards in the hopes of finding their way home. But what else lurks in the ranges beyond the desert? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	41. Unreal Tournament: Jurassic Style

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they're completely blown apart by the fact that my story's only got a few chapters left. They were so sure I'd make it to a hundred chapters. Also, I owe them fifty bucks now.

Rouge hadn't offered a complaint at first. When they first began the trek, the Time Lord thought this was a good thing. But he soon realized that his key reasoning were those two little words: _at first_. _At first_, Rouge was perfectly dandy with having to hike nearly twenty miles just to reach the base of the ranges he had chosen. _At first_, he was nice and quiet and kept himself completely occupied by looking at the lone life force they _had_ found. It ended up being a cactus, but it was something. _At first_, that was enough for Rouge to hold out. And when it wasn't, he simply moved onto the next thing, though only Rouge could say for certain what that was. At first…

And oh, what a pleasant few hours that had been. Now, however, as they came slowly, so crawlingly slowly toward the foot of those gray mountains, those two words seemed like such a mockery. The Time Lord couldn't even laugh silently for his foolish underestimation of time; once again, time had reminded him that it could never truly die by marching forward and bringing Rouge his boredom. Whatever had crushed the terminal and all of its holdings hadn't managed to completely obliterate time. Namely, even though the sun did not move, time still continued for the three of them. And that was just ironic. If time had just stayed still, Rouge wouldn't be able to get bored. He wouldn't be able to move _period_.

"Are we _any_ closer?" Rouge whined for what felt like the millionth time since he began his complaints, "My feet are going to fall off." Blue almost thought about arguing with the logic that it was physically impossible for that to happen, but hell with it. It was about one hundred degrees outside already, and he wanted to save his energy for something useful. Perhaps for slamming Rouge with an Energy Chain.

"We'll get there when we get there," was all Blue managed, and for a powerful magician like him, Rouge was almost disappointed at the lack of scolding. But he knew he was wearing his poor brother out, and in all honesty, he wished he didn't. He loved Blue; he didn't want to be any more trouble than he usually was. But god, it was so boring!

"Can we at least rest?" Rouge asked quietly, and Blue just let out a sigh. The Time Lord, however, looked back at them and smiled mischievously. He knew something, like always.

"Rest?" he repeated, amused, "Why, boys, we do not _need_ rest here." Rouge just blinked, and Blue rose a brow. Obviously, neither of them believed him.

"Why's that?" Rouge asked, not caring how flat his tone was. To him, this was getting more and more ridiculous anyway. If the Time Lord had a good enough reason, maybe he'd think about believing him.

"Because time hasn't _passed_ since we've arrived here. Notice, do you feel hungry at all?" the old Mystic asked him cryptically, "Or tired? Are you truly tired, or do you just _think_ you are?" Rouge thought about it for a moment. He hadn't yawned or anything like that; he simply didn't want to walk all of that way.

But now that he considered it, he understood that he _didn't_ feel tired. In fact, he felt the same as he had when he first woke up. There was no hunger, despite the fact that it felt like an eternity passed since they'd begun toward the mountains. And he certainly didn't need to sleep. How very odd. And how utterly convenient that the Time Lord failed to even tell them of this beforehand. Rouge just shrugged.

"I guess we're fine then," he said simply, and added, "But if my feet do fall off, can I blame you?"

"Rouge, your feet aren't going to fall off!" Blue finally yelled, and threw up his arms in frustration, "Where the hell did you get the idea that they would?" Rouge stared at him for a long moment.

"I saw it on Looney Toons," the younger mage said, as if Blue were the stupidest person in the world for asking that. Blue's eyes narrowed flatly. He shouldn't have had to explain that _that_ was a _cartoon_, and right now they were _in the real world_, yet he understood that Rouge probably didn't know that. Hell, he tried swinging over a pit of vipers once just because he saw Indiana Jones do it. That was a road Blue never wanted to go down again. He just sighed, shaking his head.

"Of course you did," the older magician mumbled, and looked at the Time Lord, "Do you feel anything yet? Any sign of the shard?" The Time Lord glanced around, nearly forgetting that _he_ was supposed to be looking for it. Then again, he was probably the only one who'd know what the waves of energy would even feel like. He chuckled.

"Not for some time, I'm afraid," the old Mystic replied with a warm smile, "This range is very big. We may not find a clue for days." Rouge's mouth dropped and he stopped abruptly, right in the middle of the path. Blue looked back at him, and so did the Time Lord. Neither looked too sympathetic, though the Time Lord easily looked the kinder about it.

"Days!?" Rouge repeated in exasperation, "Days! We're spending _days_ out here!?"

"How long did you expect it to take?" the Time Lord asked him plainly. Now he sounded just on the verge of being mildly annoyed. But Rouge was far worse than that.

"Certainly not _days_, that's for sure!" he exclaimed, waving a hand wildly, "I mean, come on! These are tools of _time_! We should feel them, like, hundreds of miles away!" The Time Lord certainly knew better than that, and he just snorted and turned toward the path again. Blue stared at his little brother for a long, hard moment. Then he shook his head again, holding it up with one hand. He actually looked tired.

"Rouge, why don't you be quiet and let me and the Time Lord think for a bit," Blue suggested, and his tone told Rouge he wasn't in the mood to play. And although Rouge didn't like the implication that he was annoying, he knew there was a time to annoy Blue and a time to heed him. Now seemed like a good time to heed him.

They had gone nearly three miles before reaching the base of the mountains. Now the temperature began to drop a bit as the mountains' considerable shadows dominated the northern half of the desert. Here, signs of life slowly began to present themselves. Grass grew in sparse, light green blankets that dotted the edges of the rocks, forming even thinner patterns as the sand met it not even a hundred feet from the rocky paths. And as Blue looked, he saw that tree roots jutted from the thin cracks along some of the lower rocks, crawling up along until they ended in short, green barbs that promised a full bloom soon. That was good to see. Perhaps there was hope up there, after all.

But looking up further, Blue began to realize that the mountain was far taller than he had anticipated, and possibly exceeding even the Time Lord's knowledgeable guesswork. It rose higher in the sky than even the clouds could go, so high that Blue couldn't even see the summit from his vantage point. The sun, he knew, was hidden beneath its peaks, giving its already intimidating shadows more depth than he was comfortable with. But how long would it take before he could see the sun beyond the range?

Taking a breath, Blue began on the trail that wound and wove around the base of the mountain, trees suddenly springing to life on either side of him. Rouge and the Time Lord were already ahead, and knowing that there could be danger lurking in any of these deep shadows, Blue didn't want them to get too far away. But even though they were barely twenty yards away, the shadows and the trees seemed to obscure them. Blue had to stop for a moment before he even got a considerable distance within. Something wasn't right here.

He spent the next few minutes simply observing, simply listening. Years in the Magic Kingdom had taught him that sight wasn't the only way to detect when something was off. Visibly, nothing was wrong. The trees swayed a bit, but Blue considered it to be only the wind. And yet still, something was wrong. He closed his eyes, letting his ears and nose become stronger. Sight was no use to him, so he relied on his other senses to point the way. And quite suddenly, he smelled something. It had an earthy smell to it. Not offensive, but not normal, either. There was hardly enough vegetation to give off such a sharp scent. And he also _heard_ something, too. It was a _skrit-skrit_ sort of sound, as if something were being raked across the bark of the trees. Blue couldn't recall anything scratching the trees. He simply saw them swaying…

Blue opened his eyes suddenly, looking around at the trees. Somehow, they seemed closer than before, as if crowding around him. He hadn't noticed it before, but now that he was aware of that strange _skrit-skrit_ noise, he heard it, even now. The trees swayed gently… but Blue was aware now that there was no wind. Time had been frozen; wind could not have possibly blown about. He looked down. Roots, tiny, pointed spikes of them, bored through the ground, writhing a bit with the feel of the air. Blue backed away, falling to the ground and looked up with terrified eyes. He had made a horrifying discovery.

The trees were quite alive.

"Rouge!" he cried out, standing and leaping out of the way just as a root tunneled the ground where he had been, trying to ensnare him, "_Rouge!_" He ran down the path, but somehow, he could not see his brother anywhere. Trees swayed, some blocking the path, some simply creeping closer. Blue swallowed hard. If neither Rouge nor the Time Lord noticed this, there was a good chance they simply walked off the path, thinking the trees to be a natural obstruction. Blue knew far better.

He rushed off the path at the first opening, weaving between two trunks whose branches shook and whirled as he went by. He ducked under one and held the other two branches at bay with two consecutive shots of Energy Chains, both linking to the earth and pulling the branches with them. Continuing, Blue saw the roots of another tree uprooting themselves, and leapt up onto the nearest one. He ran its length and leapt again, planting one foot solidly on the side of the tree and using that as leverage as he planned his next jump.

It took him to the swooping branch of an angry oak as it threw a punch on the trunk he was just at. He yelped as chunks of bark were ripped off, shrapnel of the damaged tree pelting him from the back. But he knew he had little time before the branch was whipped back. He ran as fast as he could, leaping as he felt the branch pull back. He was glad he'd done so; he'd have been crushed against the mountain walls if he hadn't. He plummeted to the ground, and came out in a roll, standing before the roots had a chance to surface and trap him. And when they appeared, he was long gone, darting forward toward another tree.

This tree was prepared for him, and he saw the spiny bristles of the pine tree rise and aim directly for him. He stopped abruptly, just as they spat out toward him. But he, too, was prepared. He quickly recited one of his many spells, and kept chanting even as the bristled spikes came closer. At the last second, just as one was about to hit him, he released his powerful spell.

"Mega Wind Blast!" he cried out, and shot a blast of wind as he thrust his palms outward. That tiny blast soon turned into a horizontal cyclone that barraged the pine that assaulted him, shredding the projectiles before they came near its caster and decimating every bristle on that tree. It reeled back, tipping until its roots nearly came up, spraying dirt around it as the wind grew in power. When the spell ended, and the tree recovered, it was completely bare, as were the three trees behind it. Violently, furiously, they shook. But Blue had no choice. He weaved around, easily dodging their futile hooks as he continued on.

The path came into view again, and Blue understood he had cut quite a distance through the forest. Yet neither Rouge nor the Time Lord were anywhere in sight. Blue stopped as his foot hit the rocky path, and he looked both ways. It was a worthless effort; every direction seemed to become obscured with green haze and those horribly hostile trees. Blue took a breath. If he had any chance of finding his brother, he had to remain calm. But damn it, which way did they go!?

Blue didn't have much time to decide. Behind him, he heard loud cracks as trees uprooted themselves in pursuit. He knew instinctively that if he didn't move it, he'd be caught in less than three minutes. He dove toward the left; it led deeper into the range, and he doubted the Time Lord would head backwards when magic was so obviously present. But as he stumbled and fell into that hazy mist, he doubted his choice. What if he had taken the wrong turn and wound up even farther from them than before? What if they were being killed right then? No! Blue couldn't think like that. He shook his head to deny the thought as much as he was to clear it. Rouge wouldn't let them die so easily, and the Time Lord was much too powerful for this. Surely, they had to be alive…

Blue heard a scream to the northwest, and rushed off the path in pursuit. He agilely avoided roots and jumped over stumps as he made a path, and when a branch swung in too close, he slammed it with a blast of his Energy Chain. But there were too many trees, and Blue couldn't deflect all of them. He took many minor cuts, diving as best he could when the trees reeled for a stronger blow. A wrong turn, however, ensnared him in one of the angry trees. And that tree didn't hold back its strength. It heaved with all its might, sending Blue screaming clear over the horizon. The forest flew beneath him, until he slammed into the ground mercilessly.

Luckily, he hadn't passed out. Blue managed to survive, and he landed with a roll that, while disorienting him, saved him from most of the damage. He landed squarely on his back, and saw that the scream had originated from, and he hand landed near, his own brother. Rouge and the Time Lord were in the clearing with him, but they were surrounded by a group of thin, yet sturdy birch trees. The young mage blasted the nearest one with a shot of his Saber card, but it didn't even knick the trunk. And the Time Lord, Blue could see, wasn't faring much better. He'd have to help them. He stood up quickly, eyes locked on the encircling trees. And he held out his hand.

"_FLASHFIRE!_" he yelled, and at first, only a tiny flame jumped from his palm, to the trees before him. Then, that flame ignited into a mighty burst of fire, which roared again as it flared up into a burning cyclone. Blue heard the screams of hundreds of voices as the plants were burned alive, but he didn't care. Rouge was in trouble.

And just as quickly, the spell ended. It incinerated every tree around them until all that was left were piles of ash at their feet. Rouge looked down, kicking a bit of ash up, and then looked back to his brother. His mouth dropped. Never before had he felt such raw power! And it all came from Blue! His face then broke in a proud grin. Of course it was Blue. If anyone could've produced such a terror, it _should_ have been Blue.

"Nice shot, bro!" Rouge exclaimed, running over. Blue laughed heartily as his brother tackled him, hugging him tightly as he said, "Damn, I didn't think we'd make it, either." Blue didn't think they'd make it, himself, but he knew saying so would just depress Rouge. He gave his little brother a pat on the head, and looked up as the Time Lord walked over, dusting a bit of ash off of his vest and smiling serenely at Blue, as if everything in the world were that perfect. Which, of course, it wasn't.

"I suppose now that's proof enough that there's a shard here," the old Mystic commented in amusement, and Blue was more than a little inclined to agree. He looked around critically, making sure nothing was prepared to leap at them as they spoke.

"What form of magic could bring these trees to life, is my question?" Blue asked him curiously, letting go of Rouge, "Certainly not anything _we've_ encountered before!" The Time Lord nodded now, his serenity dissipating into a grim visage. Blue hit the mark perfectly, he understood.

"That is the thing I wish to know as well," the Mystic said gravely, and looked up, "Shards, if big enough, sometimes have very negative effects on the landscape they reside in. Sometimes to the point of mutating the inhabitants of that world." Blue nodded. That made sense; magic was capable of warping minds at high levels. Why not bodies and souls as well? Rouge looked at his twin. He thought the same exact thing.

"Must be a pretty big shard here, then," he concluded simply, and took a breath, "So, where do we find it? Think it's here, in the forest?" He gestured with his hand over most of the area they were facing. By now, it was a waste of what it used to be, but the forests still surrounded them, and the green haze was still clinging to the wet ground.

"If not directly in the forest itself, then it's atop the range," the Time Lord told him seriously, and tapped his foot, "But, by the gods, it must be here! I've never felt so much magic embedded in anything before!" Rouge just shivered at the Mystic's happy tone. Neither had he, and it terrified him to see it. He had fought Treants, surely, but not even they compared to these hostile beasts of nature and wood. He shook his head.

"Yeah, I say we run before any more of those magical trees come back and see what we did," Rouge suggested wisely, almost imposingly. Blue just snorted. He knew what Rouge said was probably right; if _anyone_ saw what _he_ had done, they'd deal with far worse than a police squad.

They left the clearing behind them after walking through it, toward the densest part of the forest. The path, which had wound around the clearing instead of cutting through it, came into view again, and its pebbly surface was a relief. Being on a road spelled some level of safety, if only because it helped them find where they were going. But quickly, the road wound up, and soon steep cliff walls climbed up on either side of it. That clearing must've been the end of the forest floor; though the forest dotted the entire range, they wouldn't be seeing another tree for some time. That was probably a good thing.

They continued on, following the twisting path as it continued to wind up. It narrowed after a point, now with only one side being blocked by the high cliff walls. The other side was abruptly cut by a very precarious edge, which dropped off at what looked like a hundred feet. From there, Blue could see the forest. It looked chill and damp, with the mist thickest on the lowest level. The sun didn't even penetrate the thick canopy of leaves above them, and he saw that, past his original line of vision, the forest was shrouded in black. He did not want to know how many angry eyes watched them climb.

"So, how will we know if we're close to this shard of yours?" Rouge asked, as Blue tore his gaze from the view and followed them, "I mean, I can't feel anything." The Time Lord stopped for a second, glanced down at his watch, and then looked down at Rouge with a gentle smile. Personally, Rouge didn't see what was worth smiling about.

"That is because you didn't exist in this time," the Mystic told him simply, putting the watch back into his pocket, "Your connection to magic won't exist, either. As for the shard… there will be visible signs as well as sensitive ones. I'll point them out, when we come closer." He walked up a large rock – normally so impassable to mortals! – and pulled Rouge and Blue up as he spoke. Then he turned, reached the top of a smaller cliff face, and climbed that, too.

"But we're definitely going the right way?" Rouge inquired, and a nod from the Time Lord confirmed his hopes. That was good news. The sooner they escaped this place, the better, in his mind. Not that, aside from those trees, they'd seen anything else of apparent danger. Rouge shrugged as he followed the Mystic's path, looking down at his brother as Blue secured the ledge last. Rouge said, "As long as we find it, I guess."

"What'll you do when we find the shard, sir?" Blue asked, when they were ten feet higher, and on stable ground. The Time Lord hummed. That was a nice thing to consider. With his amazing power and control of time, he could do anything he pleased. But it was his job to repair the time-space continuum first. He gave a wry smile, one that suggested he didn't exactly like that reasoning. Neither brother blamed him.

"If we're lucky, I can tap into it, warp into the future, and find some humans to determine what world this is," he replied easily, and glanced at the sky, "It's no doubt this isn't our world. _Our_ world is quite young compared to the others, no more than perhaps five hundred thousand years old." Rouge's mouth dropped. That meant that human life, as he'd been taught, _hadn't_ originated in the Magic Kingdom. Those sons of bitches lied to him _again!_

"Then _where are we?_" Rouge asked, and knowing it sounded like a redundant question, he asked, "I mean, what part of the universes? What realm?"

"Definitely the Plane of the Living," the Time Lord said to him assuredly, "Magic is a barely conscious source in this era. I doubt the planes of Death, Magic, or Spirit even exist yet, as there is no human life capable of comprehending it." Rouge cast a furtive glance at Blue.

"So there's no abyss yet? Guess that means there aren't any monsters, either," the younger mage said with a sigh of relief. Blue, however, wasn't that hopeful. On the contrary, there were monsters all around them. Especially if the shard was close by, they could be dealing with far worse than even a dinosaur, should such creatures even exist. Monster had no true meaning, after all. A _person_ could be considered a monster.

"On the contrary, Rouge, there are monsters," the Time Lord said to him, suspecting Blue's darker thoughts, "Not from the abyss, surely, but we are not alone in this desolate world. That is why I've advised caution." Rouge rose a brow. He couldn't remember the Time Lord saying specifically to 'be careful.' Then again, Mystics were cryptic. To them, something as unrelated as 'I saw a spider' might mean 'danger's close, so get running.' He never did quite understand Mystic language, despite studying and even using it for five years of his life.

"Okay, so when you said _time is frozen,_ you were _kidding?_" Rouge asked him pointedly, and Blue nearly snorted. The Time Lord actually froze for a minute. It was true, he _did_ say that. But it was also true that time wasn't really frozen; _they_ were still moving, after all. His genuine smile returned.

"Well, no, but frozen is a _relative_ term," the stumped Mystic explained, though it sounded as if he barely convinced himself of his words, "When I say a world is _frozen_, literally, it is. Think of a world as a computer."

"I hate computers," Rouge said quickly, earning himself a slap on the back of his head by Blue as the Time Lord's eyes narrowed.

"_Pretend_ that you like them," the Mystic advised, and even though he was calm, Rouge heeded him, "Now, when a computer _freezes_, things are still running even though physically, it looks as if the computer isn't. It's the same with a world. Even though time doesn't go on right now, we're still physically able to move about." Unfortunately, Rouge didn't get that too well. He continued to stare at the Time Lord blankly, as if not a word of that made sense. It probably hadn't. Blue, however, seemed to understand the general terms. He grinned a bit.

"So what you're saying is, even though time has stopped, we aren't the only ones moving around here," he summarized, and now Rouge understood why there was still a problem, "I think we've already established that with those damned trees."

"Those trees were brought to life due to magic. They aren't affected by time," the Time Lord countered gently, and then sighed, "My goodness, this is difficult to explain. Let's just say that the sun is frozen in time and leave it at that." Though that hardly accounted for much of anything, Rouge was more than willing to agree. He simply shrugged as the Time Lord hopped off of the boulder, heading up another gentle incline that leveled out some feet later.

It was a surprise to see that the forest actually thinned as they climbed higher up on the mountain. Most of what they passed were meadows and copses, looking quite out of place atop such a steep climb. But it meant that there wouldn't be many trees willing to harm them for passing through. That was good; Blue had nearly exhausted his magic in his last excursion, and he guessed Rouge was growing weak in his spell reservoir as well. If what the Time Lord said rang true, there wouldn't even be a way to replenish their magic. Not for a good few millennia. Though, for good measure, Rouge took out his staff and made sure to stare at every tree, just to see any sign of movement from them. There was none.

However, it did become evident that there was a semblance of life in this world. Twice, they heard a screech from far away, though on the second time, it sounded much closer than they were comfortable with. That sound couldn't have come from nothing. Blue looked around, and then over the edge to see what could've made such a noise. Unfortunately, he saw nothing but rocks. He arched a brow. Had he imagined it?

When Rouge tapped his shoulder and pointed right into the sky, he knew he hadn't. It was far off, but he could see something was hovering in the air, its jaw opening to make that earsplitting call again. He squinted his eyes, and even though his magic was rapidly depleting, he used a simple spell to enhance his vision, to zoom in and see what he was staring at. He should've guessed the answer: what he was looking at was a pterodactyl. A small one, no doubt, but it was still one of them. And it was technically a dinosaur. All he could do was give a thin, grim-looking smile. He really, really should've guessed they'd see one. And when he turned to Rouge, he knew his brother understood his look, too.

"Dinosaur?" Rouge asked, and at Blue's nod, he added, "Does this mean we're close to the shard?" The Time Lord regarded him for a moment, his usual smile still on his lips. Now he just seemed smug about it.

"We're _closer_," he corrected, and Rouge found that, not for the first time, he hated the Mystics' sense of being cryptic. It was more like _being annoying_, just for the sake of annoying everyone else. And that was only because the Time Lord knew that was more or less the answer Rouge wanted. Rouge crossed his arms.

"Of course we are," he mumbled, and then screamed when the pterodactyl suddenly sprang forth, nearly bowling them over as it soared across the path and out toward the desert far below them. Rouge blinked profusely as the winged monster suddenly changed direction, soaring quickly to another range some miles away. This one, he saw, was the highest peak in the area, stretching so high that snow capped its top. He turned to Blue and asked, "Coincidence?"

"You think it wants us to follow it?" the older magician asked him incredulously. Rouge shrugged. He wasn't sure what he thought, but that was an awfully odd thing for a dinosaur to do. Normally, a dinosaur would've _eaten_ them on sight. That one didn't do squat. Besides, it was heading toward _something_.

"Well, it's looking for something," he pointed out, and frowned, "What if we're not the only ones who can feel magic?" Blue obviously didn't believe him, but the Time Lord clapped his hands and nodded approvingly. The Mystic smiled warmly.

"You're right," he said, and Rouge stared at him, "We aren't the only ones who can feel the magic in this area. But how do we get up there, Rouge? Are you sure the shard's there?" Rouge's eyes widened as he regarded the Mystic. How the hell could he even answer that? The truth was, he _wasn't_ sure. But he had this nagging feeling that told him that dinosaur was a good clue. It only solidified when he turned again and saw three more pterodactyls following the first. Apparently, the call from before was for that purpose. Rouge turned back to the Mystic.

"No, but you said we'd know. I just _know_," Rouge replied seriously, and grinned, "As to getting there…" Blue knew that mischievous look all too well. It spelled just one word: trouble.

Blue had always regretted when Rouge left his side at the Magic Kingdom to go to Fascinaturu. It had always felt as if half of him had been torn away, and for five years, he never knew what it was Rouge left to do. Now he had a firm understanding that he didn't actually want to know what Rouge did for those five years. And that was because, from a force Blue couldn't even begin to comprehend, Rouge had managed to _talk_ to one of the flying pterodactyls as it passed. Not with words, of course, but with a shriek very similar to the ones they heard just moments before. The creature, flying toward the range with the others, had stopped full force as soon as it heard Rouge. Blue wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling his brother had insulted the creature. Why else would such a thing stop so violently, other than to kill them all?

"What in the world is he saying?" The Time Lord whispered, as Rouge continued shrieking at the beast in its own tongue, "My lord, it's as if someone is scratching a sword on a chalkboard!" Blue admitted, as he covered his ears, that the Mystic's description was roughly accurate. It was painful to listen to Rouge 'communicate' with the dinosaur. It must've been more so to _speak_ it than to hear it.

"Knowing my brother, you don't want to find out," Blue mumbled, and finally, the pterodactyl let out a terrible scream, its brows creased in anger. Blue prayed that anger wasn't aimed at them as he turned to Rouge and said, "What the hell are you doing!?"

"I'm getting us a ride," was all the crafty, young mage replied, and Blue shook his head in disbelief. Of all the dumb things Rouge ever did, this had to be one of the worst. If it had been a car, Blue might've been okay with Rouge hitching a ride. But no, it was a _dinosaur_ Rouge was trying to steal.

After about fifteen minutes, thankfully, the screeching ended. Blue had stopped watching long before that, but when he heard a mighty crash behind him, he forced himself to look, fully expecting to see Rouge flattened into a pancake. Instead, he saw that the pterodactyl was lying on the ground, on its stomach, waiting for them to get on. And his mouth dropped. Rouge did it. Rouge actually managed to talk to that _thing_, and he had been understood. How he did it, Blue didn't know, but he had done it. At least, they _hoped_ he had. As the Time Lord shrugged and strode to the creature, Blue looked at his grinning, smug, cocky brother with wide eyes. Rouge knew what he was thinking, no doubt. The damn idiot was proud of it, too.

"Rouge, how did you do that!?" Blue demanded, as his brother helped him climb onto the dinosaur's shoulder. Rouge's smug smile didn't disappear in the least.

"I talked to it," came the easy, vague answer. And that was bullshit. Dinosaurs were… well, dinosaurs. They didn't just _listen_ when someone spoke to them. Blue knew there was something else. His eyes narrowed.

"What did you _say_?" he asked, more specifically. Rouge's smile widened a bit. Blue needed no other answer. And yet Rouge was already talking.

"Basically, I told him he was a wussy and that he'd look cooler if he brought us along for the ride," Rouge said, and Blue's mouth dropped further, "Oh, come _on!_ Dinosaurs have social structure, too, Blue. Apparently, Stink here is like the sad, little emo kid no one likes. All he wants is to be cool. I told him we'd help him if he took us to that range over there."

"And he _agreed?_" Blue asked, and when Rouge nodded, he said, "But he sounded pissed off! What was that about?"

"Probably because I called him a _stinky, little wussy_," Rouge replied, and then stopped for a moment, "Or maybe I called his mother that. It's hard to know. Dinosaur is a very complicated language." Blue wasn't sure what to say at that point. So many things were running through his head, it was hard to decide which seemed most fitting. But as Rouge got on and gave another shrill screech, Blue decided to say nothing at all. As long as they were on their way, he found it was useless to complain.

It took Stink less than ten minutes to get from the first range to the second, and that was all Blue needed to know that he hated flying on dinosaurs. As they soared across the forest below, Blue had the stupidity to look down. And he regretted it. Instantly, his stomach leapt into his throat, and he was sure that, if he'd eaten anything earlier in the day, he'd have thrown it up right then and there. He forced himself to look away as the dizziness swept over him, and was glad that Stink was a quick flyer. It occurred to him more than once that, had it not been for the dinosaur, they'd have to go back down and deal with those damn trees again. If the pterodactyl didn't eat him, he'd have to remember to thank the thing before they departed.

Stink landed on the summit, which was a barren, sandy patch hundreds of feet into the sky. Blue was surprised by this; he was sure they'd be dealing with snow as well as a monster or three. But oddly enough, there was nothing on this summit. Blue, Rouge, and the Time Lord slid off of Stink's back, and the fidgety pterodactyl stayed put. Blue took a good look before saying anything. All that greeted them was sand, strong wind, and silence. There was no shard in sight, no monster to slay. If Blue didn't have the knowledge that that wasn't good, he'd be pissed. But something was wrong. He looked at Rouge.

"Where's the _shard of time_?" he asked curiously, as Rouge shrugged, looking over the edge. He had been so sure it'd be here. He felt something in the air, moments before. But now, amidst nothing but hundreds of feet from the ground, Rouge wasn't so sure. Maybe he'd made the feeling up.

"Think it fell over the edge?" the young mage suggested, and Blue almost agreed. Except that the Time Lord snorted, shaking his head. Both brothers turned to him.

"What's so damn funny!?" Rouge demanded, as Blue said, "I've had enough of your games. Tell us what you know!"

"I'm sorry, boys, but the thought that such a thing could happen is funny," the Mystic replied calmly, as if they weren't threatening him, "It's impossible. Once a shard takes residence, not even the end of a world would move it."

"Then _where is it?_" Rouge asked emphatically, "You said we'd feel it if we were close. I felt it." The Time Lord hummed, tapping his chin as he looked about. He too felt its awesome might in the passages below, and clearly it pointed them in this general area. But there was nothing. This sourly confused him, needless to say.

"It _should_ be here," he said, taking out his pocket watch and looking into it, "By all general accounts, it _is_ here. The coordinates are correct, and the space-time directories for this world are in order. But… why isn't it here?" No one could answer that. Blue's lips thinned and he took a few steps forward. But nothing remarkable happened. It was just too disappointing. The Time Lord had said that the shard should be in an area remote and away from outside activity. This was a good place to search. Was it possible they were too high up? He looked at Rouge.

"It could be inside the mountain. Magic can pierce through rock and soil," he reminded them both. But when he stopped speaking, he saw that Rouge was white as a sheet, and the Time Lord was frozen in terror. He blinked, wondering what he said that scared them. Tentatively, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Bro, I'm not an expert, but I think you'd better look behind you," Rouge said, as cryptic as a Mystic would be. Blue's eyes narrowed. What the hell was Rouge so worried about? He had looked behind himself just seconds ago. What could've possibly changed?

"Why?" Blue urged, arching a brow. But Rouge didn't answer, save to point a shaking finger behind his brother. Blue sighed. Whatever Rouge was terrified of, it was making it impossible for him to answer. If Blue was going to figure out what was wrong, he'd have to humor his brother. He turned.

And he instantly regretted it. Blue suddenly found that, instead of nothing being there, like he expected, a dinosaur was now standing right behind him. A very big dinosaur, easily forty times his height, maybe even more than that. And it had an equally big mouth full of very sharp, pointy, slimy fangs waiting to bore into him. Blue's eye twitched. He wasn't sure just how a dinosaur managed to randomly appear from out of nowhere, but some god had to be laughing at him right then. He swallowed hard. With no magic to even help him out – he doubted any of his spells could damage such a massive bulk! – he'd have to be pretty crafty to avoid being murdered.

"Guys?" he called nervously, not daring to take his eyes off the dinosaur before him, "Help?" Behind him, he felt Rouge stare at the dinosaur in disbelief. Then he felt Rouge stare at _him_.

"You expect us to fight a _dinosaur!?_" his brother asked, and turned to the Time Lord, "Where the hell did it come from!?" Blue audibly growled. As much as he felt his brother's confusion was warranted, now wasn't exactly the best time for him to question why a _dinosaur_ was ready and waiting to eat him. It wasn't like the Time Lord had an answer, anyway. Damned Mystics always had a way to dance around everything, it seemed.

"My guess is, from nothing," the Mystic answered simply, smiling. It seemed so out of place, considering the danger. Rouge wanted nothing more than to slap that smile off. It was only the knowledge that he could be killed that stopped him.

"You said the abyss didn't exist yet!" Rouge cried, and he heard Blue sigh in frustration. He knew his brother was more worried about the dinosaur than about spatial mumbo-jumbo. But this was important!

"No, I merely said certain planes don't exist," the Time Lord replied easily, "And I didn't list space as one of them." Rouge visibly shook in outrage. He should've expected such a half-assed answer. He also should've expected such a thing to happen, too; magic was unpredictable, after all.

"So it literally hid in space, no doubt from the shard of time," he concluded, and the Mystic nodded, "Goody. Now how do we kill it?" Unfortunately, whatever knowledge the Time Lord had ended there. He wasn't an expert at killing dinosaurs, after all. In fact, there weren't any in most of the worlds; this was the second one he'd seen. The first one, he merely blasted with a shot of his Time Stream.

Sadly, there wasn't much time to figure out a decent strategy. Blue was already right in front of the damned thing, and there was no doubt he was scared absolutely shitless. Rouge doubted the Time Lord had any ideas, anyway. Taking a breath, he took out his staff, and Blue did likewise. They weren't sure what they could do, but they had to try something. It was just a shame; transforming into Aubergine would've been a nice thing to do here. But Blue severely doubted they could tap into that magic, and Rouge was of like opinion.

"You ready, bro?" Rouge asked, standing beside his brother. Blue gave a firm nod. In all honesty, he wasn't ready to die, but why terrify Rouge further? At least they'd die together. What was sad was that, in any other case, they'd be nearly unbeatable. Now, however, in a different era, a different world, and without their magic, they were no stronger than a standard human with no natural gifts. Now they'd see just how they'd fare against such a huge opponent.

It was all just too ironic for either of them.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

And so, after nearly getting killed by a grove of killer trees, Blue, Rouge, and the Time Lord have finally managed to find the shard of time. Unfortunately, they're up against the biggest opponent they've ever seen. And with no readily available magic, and no way to replenish what they've spent, it'll be a taxing encounter indeed. Can the twins find a way to win without their most precious ability? Will the Time Lord be able to lend support, despite time already being frozen? What will Stink do, being caught in the middle so subtly? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	42. Blue's Guide to Surviving Dinosaurs

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they're considering making a game where dinosaurs are summoning monsters. Dinosaurs are just cool.

Rouge had had the good intention behind the deed. When he first directed Blue to stand beside him and face the hulking dinosaur before them both, all he could think of was getting his brother to safety. For a moment, he had forgotten that both of them were in the highly destructive path of a very, very aggressive dinosaur that wanted to kill them both. And for a moment, when Blue agreed and they stood side by side, staring into those dark, glowering orbs, Rouge honestly felt they might be able to succeed. Surely, they no longer had the magical onslaught in order to successfully deal with this creature, but most humans didn't have any magic at all. And most humans were pretty adept at adapting without it. But neither of the twins were like most humans, for they had grown up with magic all of their lives. That, and most humans didn't have to fight a dinosaur.

But as soon as the dinosaur was up and ready, staring straight at them and stomping the ground to prepare its dash, Rouge understood that he had inadvertently put Blue right smack in the middle of the road to their deaths. And there was no time to tell Blue to just run away. Not that the older mage would've listened, but at least Rouge wouldn't have felt so guilty about it. When the dinosaur finally had enough of waiting for the tiny humans to do something, he roared and just charged right ahead. Rouge barely had enough time to just jump right out of the way, let alone try and convince his brother to run and leave him behind.

He was glad to find he didn't need to do that, anyway. Blue was already diving for low ground before the dinosaur even began its charge, and had slid far enough away to get out of its reach. The sand that had been kicked up, however, rolled over both brothers. And it was too thick to swat away.

"Damn it! Blue!" Rouge called, though not even he could hear his voice over the dinosaur's furious bellow, "Are you all right!?" He could hear coughing amidst the thick cloud, however, and had a feeling Blue was just fine. Perhaps a bit shaken, but fine nonetheless.

"It's too fast!" he heard Blue yell back, "Rouge, how much magic do you have!?"

"Not much, bro," Rouge called back, looking down and seeing that his staff was fading in color, a sign that he indeed was losing power, "Why? You have a plan?" Blue nodded, though he remembered that Rouge couldn't see him just yet. It took a long moment for the dust to clear; when it did, the dinosaur was busy looking over the edge, thinking his prey had fallen straight off.

"Not really. I was hoping you had enough to perform a Reversed Gravity spell," Blue replied, crawling over quickly, "Maybe stop the brute in his tracks or sink him into the sand." Rouge arched a brow. That was a pretty high-cost spell, and he hadn't exactly mastered Space magic yet. If he had more power, he'd take a shot at it. But with so little at his disposal, he had to be careful. He frowned.

"That's not going to work, dude," Rouge said, and glanced up to see that the Time Lord was frantically looking for the shard. Blue followed his brother's gaze, as Rouge continued, "Why not ask the Time Lord? He should have tons of magic up his sleeves." Blue hummed. That was a good suggestion, but could they get there in time? The dinosaur would only be distracted for so long.

Blue had to take that risk. He nodded to Rouge, who understood that it'd be his job to keep the dinosaur distracted somehow. Then, the older magician turned and began to make his slow way to the Mystic. He couldn't move too swiftly, for if the dinosaur turned and saw him move, he'd tear the man to bits. But it never came to that. Blue made it within two minutes, and had to tug on the Mystic's pants before the Time Lord even realized he was there. The Mystic looked down, and arched a brow as he considered the younger man. By all aristocratic standards, that was highly inappropriate. Perhaps the fools at the Magic Kingdom forgot what 'manners' were.

"Yes?" the Mystic asked, sounding just a little annoyed to see Blue. At that moment, the flustered, terrified mage didn't give a damn. He stood up, glancing back to see how the dinosaur was. He was still looking over the edge.

"Think you could help us a little bit?" Blue countered, "Rouge and I don't have the power to cast anything." At first, the Time Lord seemed to be considering the young man's words carefully. Then, he just frowned. Normally, this would've been no problem to fix, but something was wrong. To his dismay, he found he hadn't had use of his spells, either. Hence why he'd been looking for the shard, of course, but he understood he was too afraid to tell this to Blue.

"I…" the Time Lord began, and it was his nervous tone that told Blue there'd be no help, "I… can't."

"You _can't_?" Blue repeated, his eyes suddenly blazing. Normally, he'd be much more polite, but screw niceties. They were going to die very, very soon, and not one of them could do anything. The Time Lord nodded, and stepped back, knowing he was pushing Blue's patience.

"It's a difficult situation, you see," the Time Lord began, and Blue snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. Of all the damn times, _now_ the old Mystic had no magic. How utterly convenient, in the sense of being completely inconvenient.

"You'd better tell me why you can't do anything _right now_," Blue growled through clenched teeth. The Time Lord coughed nervously, clutching his staff until his knuckles were white. This could get very ugly, indeed.

"I'm not entirely sure _how_, but when that dinosaur appeared, I suddenly lost the use of my spells," the Mystic told him regretfully, "I believe it may have something to do with the _shard of time_, however."

"Then _where is it!?_" Blue pressed, knowing Rouge might get slaughtered any second. At this, the Time Lord's face paled. Any answer could cause Blue to go berserk and kill him. And the worst part was, even the best answer was one the young mage wouldn't like. The Time Lord would just have to deal with that.

"You are asking an impossible question to answer," the Time Lord simply said, and raised a hand when Blue tried to protest, "My _good_ guess is that it's wherever and _however_ the dinosaur came here." Blue felt his eye twitch. He had no time for clues or cryptic messages. They were currently in the path of a raging dinosaur. And it wasn't only a dinosaur, it was a _Tyrannosaurus Rex_. If this idiot didn't start speaking plain English, he'd find himself shattering on the rocks far below.

"And where would _that_ be?" Blue demanded, trying to keep whatever patience he had left. The Time Lord took a deep breath. If the shard wasn't visible, even though it was quite apparent – and it was potently so, to the sensitive lord! – then there was only one other place it could be.

"The Plane of Space," he replied solemnly, and any anger Blue had vanished entirely, replaced by an uneasy silence. The shard was in space. It almost made sense; time and space were intertwined, after all. But space should've been warped and shattered. Nothing should have been able to exist, at least in the physical manifestations of that sensitive plane. Technically, space existed simply because _they_ were _alive_. But it shouldn't be able to hold the power of a shard. Blue stared at the Mystic for a long moment, unable to decide if he believed what was said or not.

"It's… it's in space?" Blue whispered, knowing he didn't have the time for these questions. But the sheer realization of where it was proved to be too much not to ask. The Time Lord nodded slowly, seeming disturbed by his own answer.

"Theoretically speaking, it is," he replied. Blue understood that implication; space was rarely a steady thing. It could have moved in the short amount of time since the dinosaur showed up.

A roar behind told both of them that the dinosaur had caught on. Blue turned, brandishing his sword, and the Time Lord clutched his cane, closing his eyes. He wasn't sure what power he possessed, but he knew Blue stood no chance. And Rouge was far worse, for he was close to the hulking beast! But none of them hesitated. Blue was the first to dive, knowing Rouge had no time to react, knowing he had placed his own dear brother in that very path of doom. He would be ill at ease with himself if Rouge happened to be killed for such a foolish mistake, and he had no problems going in headfirst. Except that his target was a fifty-foot dinosaur, with a seemingly equally big mouth that was opening to intercept the attack and devour the mage in one go.

It didn't come to that. Rouge was faster than Blue had thought, and was already throwing their father's staff straight and true before Blue saw the monster's dripping fangs. The dinosaur was too focused on Blue; he didn't even notice the powerful staff until it hit him full on the muzzle. Only a soft clink could be heard as the staff bounced off, but the impact was far from light. The dinosaur howled in outrage and swung his head, trying unsuccessfully to discern where the object had come from. He had forgotten about Blue. That was his first mistake.

Blue came in a slam, using his sword in a deflective stance at first to absorb most of the impact when he finally collided with the beast's hardened snout. Blue bounced back, but not far enough, and he slashed in a downward arc, the movement propelling him upwards even farther. The tyrannosaurus gave another furious roar, and one eye finally found his target. But Blue was faster, was much smaller. He slashed again, this time in a horizontal cut that tore scales from the spot. And before he was done, he spun around and jabbed, this time his sword hitting skin. Now, the dinosaur was out of control. To the normal observer, Blue's attack shouldn't have done much damage. But Blue's sword, the mighty sword of his grandfather, Zauberschwert, understood the motivation behind that blow. And though the weapon itself seemed ordinary, it had been passed down to Blue to _protect_ himself and his brother. The sword did not forget such an important duty. And so, the sword struck a powerful nerve, and the creature – who had no knowledge for magic – felt only the pain of a vein being severed entirely.

It bucked and slashed out with its claws, but Blue was already falling, sword in hand. He fell faster than the dinosaur could catch, and landed with a soft thud on the ground. The dinosaur thrashed, trying to find its tiny prey, but Blue was fast escaping before it stomped around just once. Rouge laughed hysterically, knowing Blue had done a decent job. He raised his hand and the staff returned to him, and then he ran right after his brother. The battle wasn't over, not just yet.

"Not bad for no magic!" Rouge cheered encouragingly, when they met up with the Time Lord, who had done absolutely nothing but watch. Blue nodded, but did not share the smile. He understood the Mystic's shame, knew too well that the only source of power within him was magic.

"We must get that shard," Blue said grimly, and the Time Lord looked at him curiously, "Did you find a way to get it?"

"The gate will have to be opened again," the Mystic answered plainly, "I'm not sure how to do it, though. Without my power…"

"You don't need your power," Rouge cut in, and both Blue and the Time Lord turned to see what Rouge was implying. He pointed above the dinosaur's head, "There's your power." Blue squinted his eyes. He could barely see it… but he saw it! There was a tiny ripple over the monster's large head, just a blur of darkness. But in the light, it stood out only too well, a blotch of black against crystal blue. And within that blotch was a speck of light, a flash of power. It was small, but its power was sentient and resilient.

"The _shard of time_," all three of them breathed. If they could only reach it, they could escape from this era. But reality was crashing in on them. That shard was currently sitting right above a fifty-foot, seven-ton dinosaur, one that Blue had just cleanly severed in the snout. Considering how angry the beast currently was, even thinking about getting the shard seemed unrealistic at best. Blue looked at Rouge squarely, as he was the one who pointed the damned thing out.

"How're we supposed to get it, Rouge?" he asked, arching a mildly sarcastic brow. He truly couldn't wait to hear whatever foolish antics the younger mage had concocted; as much as he loved Rouge, his brother had a tendency to suggest some very bad ideas. This wasn't an exception.

"We could try climbing up its back leg, running up its spine, and then leaping up toward the shard," Rouge suggested hopefully. Blue just blinked. That was easily the _worst_ idea they could follow, but Rouge sounded so hopeful about it. He must've actually thought it'd work. It was just too bad Blue didn't agree. His lips thinned.

"And what if its tail hits us or flings us off?" the older mage reasoned, feeling that alone won him the argument. Rouge's brows creased. Obviously, it had. But Rouge wasn't about to give up and just let the dinosaur keep the shard. They'd come too far to just give it up so easily.

"Then use your sword and whack it off," Rouge said with a shrug, "Damn, Blue, you're making this too hard." Blue's eyes widened in disbelief. _He_ was making this hard! Why wasn't Rouge blaming this on the _fifty-foot lizard_ that was in front of them?

"Me? I'm sorry, I think you may have forgotten," Blue began, and yelled, "…_but we're standing in front of a DINOSAUR!_" To Rouge, that wasn't a good enough reason not to at least try. They'd fought the lord of Hell himself, and he was much bigger than this. Besides, if Fuse were there, he'd be more than willing to do something that crazy. He'd be willing to do something sixty times as crazy, all because he knew he just _could_. If only Blue had that determination…

"I haven't forgotten anything," Rouge replied evenly, and gave a grin that Blue just didn't like, "Trust me." For some reason, Blue wasn't quite ready to do that.

Blue had always thought, and everyone else unanimously agreed, that he was the sane one between himself and his brother. He had always been logical and pragmatic, always seeing the world for what it was, knowing that physical limitations _could_ be pushed, but that they could only be pushed so far. He respected this fact, revered it almost, but for reasons he could not fully understand, he was now defying his very views and beliefs. Rouge had always seen life as something to challenge, something that should never stop a person, but rather make them dive headlong into the throngs of danger. And then to laugh in that danger's face. Blue had never wanted to believe in it, but as he stood before the dinosaur, a creature that should _not_ have existed before him, he had to toss his pride aside and embrace his brother's view for once.

Subsequently, that led to his current predicament. Rouge had expected Blue to follow his order, and because Blue had to trust, he had done so. And now, as Rouge and the Time Lord worked out a way to use the shard, Blue found himself running toward the backside of the monster, and leaping up to where Rouge indicated. Physically, it should've been impossible. It was easily, so easily, a ten foot leap from the floor to the thing's heel bone, a leap not meant to be made by man. But Blue couldn't think on that, and when he made the jump, he felt himself soaring right through the air. He went straight up, his own eyes widening as he looked down and saw the ground spiral around, and turned just in time to see that he was going to collide onto the very edge of the heel. He kept his sword in check; with his free hand, he shot out and dug into the scaly, hard skin. And he quickly pulled himself up. The dinosaur, so angry and stupid, felt nothing.

Blue stopped momentarily to consider his options. Rouge's idea consisted of continuing the climb, and making his way up the dinosaur's backside, running along up the back of its neck, to its head, and finally to where the shard sat. But Blue knew that'd take considerable time and skill. And the dinosaur would probably catch on, when it saw one human was missing. Blue couldn't risk that. He looked around. There were always other options to consider, but up there, they looked pretty bleak. He sighed. Rouge won out again, and he simply shrugged, placing his sword back on his hip and using both hands to find another hold and pull himself up.

Moments later, Blue found himself standing shakily upon the dinosaur's back. It was a tedious climb, the holds often precarious at best, but Blue was a quick one, physically more able than Rouge. He had scrambled up, using his sword as a lever when the scales proved too tightly packed to be of any use. And that lever, he found, was a good way to jump feet up, shaving off precious seconds to better plan out his strategy. He was rewarded with a high perch atop the storming beast, and now, he could safely figure out what he needed to do. Down below, he saw Rouge and the Time Lord were near where he had been, just ten moments before. Rouge waved, signaling that he was doing well. Blue, however, wasn't as enthusiastic. There was still the matter of actually _reaching_ the shard.

The good news was, the Time Lord had just an ounce of his power back. He could use it, and did, to get both himself and Rouge to where Blue was. Why he _hadn't_ done that before, Blue didn't want to know, but it saved him time from waiting. The bad news was, now all three of them were out of power, and they were all on top of their enemy. One wrong move, one roaring buck, and all three would plummet to their deaths. And if they survived, they'd die of a footprint a second later. As his companions materialized beside him, Blue couldn't help but look flatly at them both. This was a bad idea, and he knew it. But damn it, he was following it all the same!

"Well?" Blue asked impatiently, wanting Rouge to get any half-assed remarks out before they began their suicide mission. Rouge looked at him with that same cocky, amused grin, his brow arched. He obviously found this funny.

"Well what?" Rouge countered, "You're the one leading, bro."

"_Excuse me!?_" Blue yelled, staring as if Rouge had suddenly sprouted demonic wings, "Why am _I_ leading!?" In any other situation, Rouge would've been asking the same thing. But for right now, with Blue's weapon being the strongest, it only made sense that he should lead. If _anything_ lived up here, say, a prehistoric parasite, then Rouge wanted only the strongest one to dive headfirst and spear it in three. Unfortunately, that constituted as solely relying on Blue. But Rouge was more than used to that. He shrugged.

"Because _you_ have a sword," the younger mage answered reasonably, "Now, come on. This dude's not going to stay put for long." Blue grumbled, but he led them anyway.

Nothing else was up there to harass them, but none of them knew if that was a good or a bad thing. It may have meant less fighting on the front end, but it also meant that the dinosaur would feel every slice Blue's sword would enact. Personally, Blue wanted something to distract the dinosaur, like a few fleas or an ant colony. But he had to figure neither existed just yet, and if they did, they were smart enough to just hide in their little holes. They were lucky little bastards, but Blue didn't want to curse them just yet. There were other problems to attend to, like actually getting to where they needed to go. Blue stepped lightly – he had no intention of making finding them easy! – and picked out a rough, but somewhat safe route through the dinosaur's backside. Most of the 'landscape' was dry, but the scales were jagged as a result, and climbing them was difficult, especially for the Time Lord, who had never climbed across such a rugged thing before. Blue had to take special care to weave across the ridges, while picking a route that'd take them nearly in between where scales separated.

That was no easy task. The scales moved every time the damned beast even breathed, and more than once, Blue had to be quicker than the thing's slow tempo; he could not afford to get caught between scale and skin. Mainly because if he did, then he would be crushed to death, and his sword was in no way strong enough to deflect scale. So, for several moments, the journey was slow. Rouge and the Time Lord both needed help in crossing any obstacle that came their way, and Blue quickly found himself getting frustrated. He should have asked them to wait. Then it dawned on him that he might not have seen them again if only he managed to touch the shard. Though assumptions were never safe, he had a feeling that the shard was similar to a portal. After all, there was no other explanation of how the dinosaur had suddenly appeared before them.

Relief came quickly. The dinosaur had obviously been in a few fights, for there were patches where the scales had been ripped away. Blue aimed for them, knowing it'd make the trek at least a bit more bearable for his companions. And with how the back scales were set up, it'd give them a temporary shelter as Blue thought of a faster way to get toward the head. Right then, they were safe as it was. The dinosaur wasn't looking for them, and had probably thought it had squished them, hence their sudden absence. Gesturing to his brother and the Mystic, Blue found a half-turned scale that was on the verge of being ripped, and used that as the shelter they'd need. The scale, curved slightly like a dome, acted as a roof as the scale next to it held it up.

"Why're we stopping?" Rouge asked, as they slowed and then finally came into the shadow of the scale. Blue didn't answer for a moment. He was trying to gauge just how they could go about this. Continuing with their current pace would take too much time, he decided. But there were few other options.

"There has to be a better way of doing this," Blue answered honestly, and turned to regard the two, "Neither of you are skilled with this rugged terrain. We have to get to that shard quickly. Who knows how long it might stay here." Rouge didn't possibly think the shard could go anywhere, but he also understood how volatile and unpredictable magic could be. The Time Lord also seemed to share this opinion, for worry had crossed his otherwise calm features.

"The answer is, not long at all," came the grim reply. Blue and Rouge looked up at him, both frowning, and he continued, "Time is not linear, so it never stays in the same place, nor does it travel any set path. It can literally do as it pleases with complete disregard to everything else." Put in that context, Rouge began to understand why Blue was being so careful. He tapped his chin; technically, he chose space over time for this reason, but there had to be something he could do to help out.

"Is there a way to slow its progress a bit?" he offered, but he knew at once only one person had that ability, and that person currently had no magical value.

"That would require much more power than I have," the Time Lord replied, "Normally, I would be able to convert my numerical life value into magical power, but with so little original source here, we'd be lucky if I can even retain the power of immortality let alone conversion." Rouge's face blanched. If that came to pass, that'd mean the Time Lord would be dead very, very quickly. Technically, he didn't even have an age. And without him, there was no way out.

Blue, however, frowned deeply. As much as he enjoyed listening to the humdrum of their conversations, he understood when time was being wasted. And though time was suspended around them, it wasn't completely frozen in place. Events would still come to pass, and the dinosaur would eventually do something to throw them right off its back. So far, his planning had come to a standstill; there was no solid footing and the path weaved and curved around the spiked ridges, giving them little opportunity. The only thing to do was move, and move quickly. He just had to hope their rest was well enough.

"We'll figure these technicalities out soon enough," he said to the two, and his voice was grave, "We're wasting time. There's no way to get to the head without going through the ridges, and we need that shard." Normally, Rouge would've convinced him, or at least tried to, to take a better look. But he knew his brother and understood the severity with which the elder mage spoke. Blue wouldn't push unless it was urgent.

"I'm tired, but you're the boss, bro," Rouge replied, "Just point out the steps and we'll keep the pace." Blue was glad Rouge was supportive. The Time Lord also issued no complaints. After getting their weapons set and making sure they had what they had come with, they were off again. This time, the pace was faster. Both Rouge and the Time Lord expected the bad terrain, and they were quick at learning Blue's movements. As soon as they left the shadow of the scale, Blue clambered over it, directing Rouge and the Mystic to climb the adjacent one. From there, his plan varied just slightly. They were to weave around the ridges, but each would be going a different direction. He explained as they ran: it would get rid of a chance of ambush, should there be one.

So it went, with Blue climbing the stiff ridges directly as Rouge and the Time Lord flanked him from the left and right. Being on the top had advantages, and Blue noticed them immediately. Now he had the best vantage point and could easily direct their line of movement from there. For ten minutes, there was nothing interesting. Everything looked the same, and the scales barely trembled underneath the weights of Rouge and the Time Lord. Blue kept a vigilant watch, however, knowing that this was a _living_ creature, and even a breath could shape a new path. And it was with this thought that he saw something disconcerting.

Ahead, far ahead, he saw the scales ripple, and the path seemed to suddenly swoop downwards. He stopped, as the ripple came closer, and urged his companions to do the same. Rouge was confused, but obeyed perfectly, and all three halted before the order was fully out. The ripple diffused before hitting them, but they all saw it. Something within the dinosaur was moving, some muscle. But they were just too small to see what it actually was. Blue had a good guess regardless.

"What is it?" he heard Rouge call below him. Blue squinted his eyes. He saw the ripple again, though this time it was a bit smaller. Sunlight glinted off a few of the scales. The dinosaur's head was bent downwards.

"The neck's moving," Blue replied, looking down at him, "Our little friend's looking for something."

"Probably us," Rouge guessed unhappily, and Blue had no reason to argue. He urged caution, but they continued on. As they came toward the thick, throbbing neck, Rouge had to slow considerably. Here, the scales were slick with sweat, and the head was bent slightly left, making his passage a dangerous one. Not only could he slip, but he was traveling dangerously close to the creature's turned eye. If the dinosaur glanced back, he'd notice a moving speck on his back. Blue understood this, and ordered Rouge to pull back toward the right, which his brother rightly agreed to.

Suddenly, Rouge stopped altogether. He heard something slightly behind them, and turned to regard it. Yet there was nothing within sight. Rouge hummed, catching the Time Lord's attention, and the Mystic walked over. He was about to ask what was going on, but Rouge quickly silenced any questions with a raised hand. The two waited, listening intently. There was silence for a long minute, and then they heard it again. Something was scuttling, making tiny _skrit-skrit_ sounds as it went, and then that something seemed to multiply as the noise echoed and reverberated. Rouge practically held his breath, wondering what could be up here with them. Then he understood what they were fighting. He nearly dropped his staff when he saw one hundred of the damned things rushing toward them.

Fleas. That was the one thing Rouge hadn't expected in such a prehistoric age. He knew the existence of dinosaurs, and understood the evolution of man. He grasped the nature of dirt and the subjects surrounding the stone age. But he had never once considered that fleas were part of the past. And now he felt like a fool for it. There was an army of them swarming, disturbed by the three's movements and voices, and they were approaching at an alarming speed. By Rouge's estimation – an inaccurate one, he admitted – they had about five minutes before they had to act. And when it came to reality, they had barely two before the first one was within range. Rouge smacked it away with his staff, and it went flying into the wind. But that hardly mattered, for three more appeared right behind it.

Rouge could only curse. He wasn't built for melee combat, and the fact that he wielded a staff proved it. The weapon was good for batting the pests aside. More often than not, it sent them hissing and screaming to their deaths far below. But the staff was a slow tool, and each swing tired Rouge further. His attacks became drudged and almost predictable, for when his count reached over thirty, the fleas were learning quickly when and where to just jump over the staff. If he could only access magic, these pitiful monsters would die from just one blast of Reversed Gravity. And if _Blue_ had _his_ magic, he'd add to the death count by using either Vermillion Sand, Mega Wind Blast, or even Flash Fire. And if the _Time Lord_ had his magic, he'd cause hell again and again by letting Blue and Rouge continue the death _in an infinite loop_. Truly, Rouge was missing his magic.

The Time Lord was faring no better. Whereas Rouge had a semi-long-range weapon to at least beat off his opponents, the poor Mystic had to get up, close, and personal to do any true damage. And considering that Mystics had little skill with any weapons at all, save for Ildon and Ciato, that was a brave thing for the old one to try and do. His newly revived youth provided him with the agility and swiftness to evade the constant gauntlet of pincers and snappers coming at him, but his constant use of magic made it even more apparent that he was even less skilled in combat than Rouge was. Rouge, who knew singling themselves was doing nothing, was quick to step in and help the Mystic keep his annoying foes at bay. And the Time Lord truly appreciated the service.

"How many fleas you think there are?" Rouge joked sarcastically, something that sounded out of place in the midst of combat. The Time Lord laughed dryly, slashing one in two parts.

"For a monster this big? Easily more than the population of our world," the Mystic replied honestly, and Rouge just grunted. He didn't really want an answer. He wasn't surprised he had gotten one. Again and again the two danced around, protecting each other from the bites the fleas were trying to give, but both were falling quickly. They both knew they'd last only a few more minutes, and only if their magic didn't continue draining.

"Damn it, where is Blue!?" Rouge demanded, thinking it odd that his dear brother wasn't bothering to step in. He had been sure that trait was smashed in their fight on the spatial plane, when they battled to see who would be the dominant persona. Now he was wondering if Blue even cared. Just as that thought distracted him, Rouge screamed as a pair of vicious, itching fangs ripped into his skin. The Time Lord was moving too slowly to help him.

Suddenly, the thing hissed and was crushed by a blue blur. Rouge stopped screaming, looking at his bloody arm, and realized it was Blue who had saved him. Blue stood, hatred lashed onto his face as he took out his sword, along with a glass bottle, and faced the horde of fleas. They had backed away, not knowing what had suddenly come at them. But they came on again, stronger than before. Blue wasn't afraid. He merely glared and threw his bottle right at them. It ignited into a sea of flames, blue in color and highly damaging. Several hundred screams filled the air, and the smell of acrid, burning flesh filled their nostrils. Fleas fell in a dead blanket around them, and the fire continued searing through the ranks. Blue's attack was devastating them in a very real, very welcomed way.

"It's about time!" Rouge yelled, as the Time Lord recovered and said, "Where were you?"

"Sorry," Blue replied, a grin on his normally stern face, "I was preparing for the ultimate blast of the century." Rouge arched a brow, not appreciating the lame joke. But Blue's unnatural grin didn't vanish. He produced another similar vial, and when a flea came too close, he roared and hit the poor thing full in the face. The bottle exploded, and some form of liquid flew right out, spattering the flea's closest comrades. Like before, a fire roared instantly to life, taking out several more lines of enemies. Blue's two friends watched in complete and utter shock. They were suddenly _winning_, and only because Blue finally showed up.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Rouge asked in awe, eyes wide. Blue smirked and chuckled, holding a third bottle. Whatever it was, Rouge knew only two things about it: it _had_ to be illegal, and it was insanely powerful. He was almost proud, though he knew Fuse wouldn't be if he ever found out about it.

"Liquid Dragon's Fire," Blue replied, "You can only get it from Espers, and only during the trading seasons." Rouge's eye twitched. Espers! Those creatures were so damn rare, and so very rarely traveled out of the eastern sector of Oblivion! How Blue managed to even meet one, Rouge wouldn't know, but he was jealous! Espers were _masters_ of magic!

"Seriously!?" Rouge cried, impressed. Blue's smile only widened.

"Seriously, brother," came the calm reply. And another bottle was thrown, setting off yet more lines of the bothersome, and soon-to-be extinct army of insects.

Blue shouldn't have been too surprised – he even half-expected it! – to find that the tyrannosaurus had felt the extreme blasts of fire his newest weapon emitted. He should've known it, but he was so enthralled with his death count, with the fact that the horrid pests were dying, to notice that the neck had swiveled, and a very, very large, red eye was glaring down at him. Similarly, an equally large, dripping fang was appearing some feet under the eye. The dinosaur had seen him, and it sent such a surge of terror that he fell, screaming, nearly sliding off of the scales, off the neck, to his doom. Rouge had saved him, had grabbed his sleeve and hoisted him right back before he had gone over the edge. And together, they faced the dangerous beast together.

The thing stayed silent for only a short while as he examined the two tiny humans at the back of his neck. In his simple mind, the dinosaur hadn't actually considered that these humanoid annoyances would get so high up before he noticed, but as far as a dinosaur could think, he was almost impressed. They were brave. It was just too bad he was going to eat them now. It wasn't even worth the effort; it was simply because those few blasts of fire really, really hurt. He'd make sure to hurt them even more. He let out an earsplitting, heaven-rending roar that sent blasts of ancient breath all over everyone, including the rest of the fleas. The latter were blown away entirely, never to return. Unfortunately, the three friends remained. Blue counted it as bad luck.

"Holy crap, it blew all the fleas off its back!" Rouge exclaimed happily, though Blue didn't understand why this was good. This meant _they_ were the only things left to be eaten.

"And now it wants to eat us," Blue reminded him flatly, and took out his sword. He knew it'd be a pitiful excuse for a defense, but up so high, they had no option to just run away unless they wanted to die along with it. His brows creased as he considered his tactic. And then he said to the others, "Cover me."

"With what!?" Rouge demanded suddenly, as the Time Lord took out his own sword to try and help. Rouge didn't get an answer. The only thing Blue responded with was to gain a running leap and slash toward the eye. He fell short; he nicked the hard skin between the eyes again, and had to jump before the head fell back, taking him with it. He landed beside his startled brother.

"Anything we have," Blue finally answered, though it was vague and entirely unhelpful. All they had were the vials Blue was carrying. Rouge had a feeling he had used most of them, if not then all. Everything else consisted of two weapons that neither of their holders could use particularly well. But that'd just have to do.

When the head came back, this time with both eyes facing them, Blue leapt up to plant another slash or two between the eyes. And this time, Rouge went with him. Rouge knew Blue's tactics would become predictable unless he managed to stay on the thing's snout. And he had a good idea of how to keep his brother up there. He'd cause pain that _couldn't_ be ignored, and his father's staff was the perfect way to do it. The end of it was shafted so that it could be used as a backwards spear, should such a defense be necessary. And when Rouge landed, he plunged that shaft right into the skin. It was as hard as a rock; Rouge had to maneuver the shaft a bit before it slipped in between two scales, but he managed it and hit a nerve. And possibly a vein with it. Soon, a small well of blood pooled, and the dinosaur howled in agony. Blue grabbed Rouge's arm and pulled him higher up to help with the damage, and Rouge understood one point of pain wasn't nearly enough. He picked another spot and set to work again.

Blue, meanwhile, ran up the snout as the dinosaur raged. The beast's vision was cut for a moment, and when it returned, the poor thing inevitably had to cross its eyes just to follow Blue's movement. That left it dizzy, and vulnerable, as it could not shut its eyes. Blue leapt and slashed the left eye, and blood gushed out, splashing him. The dinosaur bellowed angrily, and the eye fell shut. The muzzle, however, snapped open. Rouge was not in the best position to keep his footing, either, and he slid. It was their father's staff that saved him. He held on, and it was too wedged into a scale to snap apart. That didn't stop the dinosaur from trying to eat him, however.

"_BLUE!_" Rouge yelled, as Blue looked down and saw how precarious a position Rouge was in, "Damn it, you idiot, _help me!!_" Blue snorted softly. In his mind, he was doing everything he could. But he picked his way down toward where Rouge was and pulled his brother up. That earned them both a glare from the dinosaur's good eye.

"Think he's mad?" Rouge asked, feigning innocence. Blue would've laughed, but 'mad' was an understatement. He doubted there was a word to describe what the dinosaur felt. Not that he'd have said it. He just shrugged.

"If he is, he'll be far worse when the other eye is gouged out," Blue reasoned logically. This time, Rouge did laugh. Together, they ran up the snout again to try and work on the other eye.

The dinosaur didn't give them that chance. By then, he had fully expected the sword, and he shut his eye immediately, swooping his head back to try and throw them off. This time, Rouge's staff wasn't caught in between the dinosaur's scale, and when the monster's head shot forward, there was no solid footing to keep either mage on. They were thrown mercilessly through the air. So, too, was the shard. But their fall was so terrifying, neither brother took heed of that last fact. Rouge screamed as he felt Blue grab him, both holding on for whatever life they felt they should have. And both shut their eyes, fully expecting the crash that would end their fates and send them both back to hell.

It never happened. They waited moments, and then finally, Rouge had the courage to open his eyes. And he found that they were floating in mid-air, as if frozen in place. He looked around quickly, wondering what could've caused such a thing to happen. He saw the shard, but it was falling, and so it shouldn't have done such a thing. Then he remembered there was one other who had the ability to stop time. He looked directly at the Time Lord, who was already back on the ground, trying to weave his spell with his staff. Rouge had no idea how or why he regained his power, but he was just happy it worked.

"Seems like the magical energy in my Magi-Drink hasn't diminished," the Time Lord offered, when both Rouge and Blue landed safely, "I had just enough power to stop you two from being crushed." That felt awfully convenient to Rouge.

"Thanks a bunch," Rouge said grumpily, and then turned toward where the shard was going to fall, "But why didn't you save the shard instead? I thought you wanted power." The Time Lord stared at Rouge critically in that moment, unable to decide whether he should be hurt or insulted from the implication. In truth, he was mostly amused; humans had a tendency to think Mystics only cared about power. Then, he just laughed heartily. He'd have to prove those humans wrong, of course.

"You, my young friend, suffer the common misconception that all we Mystics truly care about are ourselves," the old Mystic stated with a sly grin, "This is, in fact, false. I saved you both because you are my companions, and you helped me when I needed it. Even despite the fact that my older self hindered you a great deal." Blue could only smile. He never thought of Mystics as being overly selfish, but then again, he himself was a bit power-crazy, too. Then he remembered two things: he was dating Princess Lion, and Ciato had saved Rouge's life on numerous occasions. Perhaps there was a lot of truth to the Time Lord's words. Except that Rouge didn't believe him.

"And you're not annoying us _now?_" Rouge pointed out flatly, and Blue's eyes widened, "Look, dude, not that I'm not happy to know you're okay, but you really haven't done anything useful except to confuse us." Blue slapped his forehead. To him, saving their ungrateful asses was a pretty useful thing to do. The Time Lord just chuckled, shaking his head. Of course Rouge wouldn't see this fact.

"I believe I've just saved your lives," he reminded the young man. But a roar right behind them cut his point short. The dinosaur seemed to have something to say about that as well. If only the Mystic's drink recovered more power, then that dinosaur wouldn't even be there. Rouge frowned as they all turned to once again regard their adversary.

"Shit," he mumbled, "I forgot he was still there."

"_Now_ he looks mad," Blue unhelpfully added. If they weren't in so much danger, Rouge would've hit him for that. But they _were_ in danger, and now the Time Lord truly had no power left. So, they did the only thing they could; they turned, screamed, and ran. Or, at least they _tried_ to run, but there really was no place to run to, and the shard had fallen right off the cliff. Now they felt they were screwed. And on the brink of death. Desperate, they huddled together, trying to find something to help them.

"Is this it!?" Rouge asked, as Blue growled and said, "This can't end yet…" Unfortunately, without the shard, not even the Time Lord knew what to do. That was their last chance at freedom. Then, something happened.

Not one of them was sure how or why what happened managed to happen, but it saved their lives. The dinosaur had them cornered, and was going to open his mouth to utterly devour them and end their existence. And then, out of nowhere, a giant comet slammed right into the dinosaur, causing a blaze so massive, that it hurt them just to look at it. The dinosaur screeched, an eerily high-pitched sound that should not have naturally come from such a creature. Then it melted, simply vanished from existence, and the fire went with it. The whole thing lasted maybe thirty seconds. But that was enough for both Blue and Rouge. And when it was said and done, the meteor was still there. Along with a voice, one that sounded too familiar and too welcome for any of them.

"_Holy shit! Ildon, I hit him!_" that voice belonged to Zozma! Rouge's mouth dropped as he considered that. Zozma, as far as he was concerned, was dead, along with everyone else. And yet that voice was unmistakable. Soon enough, the red-headed Mystic appeared on the meteor, grinning his usual, confident grin that just said how lucky everyone was to have him around. Blue couldn't disagree, in that moment.

"Zozma!?" Rouge cried, as the Time Lord said, "Ah, hello, prince Zozma!"

"You guys are _alive!?_" Zozma called back, truly surprised to see them, and then laughed and turned, "Ildon, get up here! Bring Orlouge and that idiot cop, too!" Surely enough, the disgruntled, green-haired Mystic trudged up beside Zozma, and Orlouge came up shortly after, carrying an unconscious Fuse. Blue wasn't entirely surprised to see that Fuse didn't exactly do well with current events, but he was glad to see everyone was all right. He smiled genuinely as Zozma slid down to greet the three.

"How did you all get here?" he asked, as Zozma clapped him on the back and drew Rouge into a crushing hug, "I thought you all perished!" Zozma turned back to him, the same grin still on his face.

"Nah, we're just fine," the red-head told him, "Kylin sent us. Seems like Ildon was annoying the crap out of him, and he had to get rid of us." Blue eyed Zozma suspiciously, knowing that Ildon was the least likely to do something like that. His suspicion was confirmed when Ildon glared at his fellow prince spitefully.

"…_you_ were the annoyance, Zozma," Ildon reminded him gravely, and frowned as he came to join up with his friends, "Anyway, we're not out of danger yet. We've got some problems to discuss… aside from the obvious." Blue understood Ildon had seen the shard fall. He nodded, and turned to Rouge. Something was up, but whatever Kylin truly sent them there for, Rouge couldn't say. Biting his lip, Rouge sat down, and Blue joined him as Ildon signaled for Orlouge to come. Soon, all of them were seated in a circle, with the smoldering meteor behind them. Fuse lay to the side, snoozing his pain away.

Despite his grave tone, Ildon said nothing for quite a while. In fact, no one spoke. Whether it was because no one knew where to begin, or simply because everything shocked them all so much, Blue couldn't begin to guess. But silence reigned on, and everyone seemed content to let it continue. Ildon remained distant; whatever he wanted to discuss, he seemed to be discussing with himself. And Zozma seemed equally occupied. His grin had vanished as soon as he was seated. Even Orlouge and the Time Lord seemed ill-at-ease, both casting wary, worried glances at the other. Only Blue and Rouge seemed relatively present for the meeting, and neither had any idea what anyone else was thinking. Perhaps that was best, for neither wanted to know what exactly ran through a Mystic's mind.

They had no idea that all four Mystics were thinking the same thing, that all four had noticed one thing that set their group back from being complete. It was such a small detail, and considering who had inspired it, it was something that shouldn't have been surprising. And yet, as soon as they had awakened from their own comas, each Mystic saw that something was not right: Not one of them had seen Ciato yet.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

After a grueling, dangerous trek to try and retrieve the shard, Blue and Rouge are horrified to see that they've failed to even touch the shard, let alone actually use its powers. Good news is, their friends have returned by their side, and the dinosaur is gone for good. But Ildon comes to bear bad news, and no one seems to want to speak it. What has all of the Mystics so silent, and why does it concern Blue and Rouge? Just how did they show up in such a timely manner, and was it truly because Zozma was annoying Kylin? Where is Ciato? And what of the _shard of time?_ Find out next chapter, so click that Review button! Also, I want to apologize for taking so long. My computer had a nasty virus that shut me out of my files until my sister could get it fixed. Hopefully, the damn thing is gone for good, just like the dinosaur.


	43. Ildon's Interrogation and Investigation

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said they're making a show about Ciato and Ildon. It's called The Odd Couple: Game of the Year Edition.

The hour had passed by lazily, and Blue was acutely aware that Rouge wasn't taking the silence well. The dinosaur was out of the picture, and for that, he knew Rouge was eternally grateful to the Mystics. But their grim tones, and Ildon's ominous words beforehand had caused a good deal of worry in Rouge's mind, worry that Blue felt he didn't need. Not when he barely survived in this new world. Yet for some reason, the Mystics weren't even cognizant of this. In fact, they seemed incredibly distracted despite inviting the two over to their camp. It was a weird feeling indeed; normally, Mystics were so focused and level-headed. Something was up to keep them so preoccupied. In particular, Ildon was the most affected. He stared directly into the fire Zozma had started, his pale face glowing orange amidst the flames. His eyes told Blue far more than his silence did. He was off somewhere else, thinking of someone else. It must have been Rastaban.

Meanwhile, Zozma seemed equally distracted, but on the opposite scale. Whereas Ildon kept completely silent and still, Zozma seemed to be humming to himself, occasionally singing softly to try and keep his focus. But he was also staring into the fire as well, with the same intensity. Blue was partly worried, and slightly curious to see, if either of the Mystics' eyes would burn out.

Finally, Rouge couldn't take the suspense. He may have been part of IRPO, but he wasn't exactly a cop. He hadn't been in the field for a hundred some-odd years like Fuse had been, and he wasn't trained to wait out his opponents or captives like the cop in question had been, either. _And_ he wasn't used to anyone ignoring him, either. He looked at his older brother for a slight second, and then turned to the Mystics across from them. Orlouge and the Time Lord were the best bets to getting some damn answers, but they were respectful when it came to the princes. They didn't even so much as utter a complaint at sitting in the dirt for more than a few seconds. It was almost maddening.

"Does _someone_ want to tell me what the hell's going on?" Rouge blurted out rudely, and all of the Mystics stared at him in unison, "Come on, you didn't come here to enjoy my company, did you?" Zozma laughed, but a glare from Ildon shut him up.

"What we have to say isn't entirely easy for any of us," Orlouge began gently, as a patient father speaking to his child would do, "We simply aren't sure how to go about it."

"Talking is a good start," Rouge said flatly, and received a nudge from Blue. Orlouge sighed, and looked away. Whatever this was about, they didn't want to say. Rouge had a sneaking suspicion that, for some reason, most of it pointed to him. Ildon finally decided to give in to the human, and looked up at Rouge with flashing, red eyes.

"We've not seen sign or heard word of Ciato," the green-haired Mystic told him plainly. Rouge just blinked. Blue may have understood that significance, but Rouge didn't. To him, Ciato was a drama queen and lived to make others worry and question his moves. So it was little surprise to Blue when his brother stared incredulously with an arched brow, expecting more of an answer.

When he didn't receive one, Rouge waited and said, "…so? Ciato's disappeared before. It's nothing new." Ildon snorted coldly, and turned away. Again, it felt almost pointed.

"When you consider that space is warped, it's terrifying," Orlouge interjected, his calm voice cutting through the still air, "We have all returned, and that is good. But where could Ciato be?" Blue hummed, but said nothing. Now he seemed as occupied as the others. Rouge just watched, a soft frown gracing his features. He looked around before speaking again. Ciato wasn't the only one missing.

"I don't see Kylin here, either," he pointed out, but Ildon waved it away.

"Kylin is working on restoring the fabrics of space before it's upturned any more," the Mystic replied without looking at him, "The problem is that, as princes, we all have ties to Orlouge. When he summons us, we return. It's as simple as that. Ciato, however, did not."

"Neither did Rastaban," Rouge was quick to state, but Ildon's glare silenced him much like it had for Zozma.

"Rastaban can't," Ildon growled, and there was a shakiness to his voice now that had never been heard before, "Rastaban… does not exist now." Blue gasped, and Rouge's mouth dropped. _That_ wasn't an expected answer, and quite frankly, now they both understood what was driving Ildon so forcefully. The man he loved was no more, and it was their fault to begin with. Which meant that everyone else…

"So then, our world…" Rouge began, and Ildon nodded grimly, eyes hardening as he silently confirmed Rouge's fears.

"Gone. Everything we know and love is gone," the green-haired Mystic said emptily, "Our world, Hahn Nova, Nesce, Domino, Ivalice, Spira, it's all gone. Only a few worlds exist now." Rouge had nothing more to say, and Blue wondered just what could be said, with their fates stated so plainly. It was no wonder they couldn't use magic anymore. It simply did not exist.

But, as Blue thought more about it, what happened made sense. When the terminal had crashed, literally, it was as if life just ended. To have multiple worlds corrode and then vanish entirely wasn't a surprise. In fact, it happened even without the complete upheaval of the space-time continuum. The only exception was that multiple worlds _didn't_ vanish in a short period of time. This was, and always would be, a special exception. Blue just let out a sigh. He didn't want to think this was caused because of them, but somehow, he knew they had set into place each and every piece needed to begin the events that caused the end of their world. They were nothing but catalysts.

"I don't want to think that we've done this, but is there a way to right this?" he asked after a few agonizingly long moments. The Time Lord looked down at him gently, as if he sympathized with Blue's guilt. He shook his head.

"We can only trust that Kylin can fix this," the old Mystic told him, "As to you, take heart in knowing that you didn't cause this." But Rouge knew who had, and it was the very person who was missing. That was why he could only blame himself. He alone saw the madness in Ciato's eyes, and he alone remembered what had transpired. Blue certainly didn't recall it, after all.

"Then… what did?" Rouge quietly asked, and the Time Lord stopped, thinking about it. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Because he couldn't remember. He _couldn't remember!_ For once, he was frozen. Time was his tool, and he was accustomed to knowing every event and figure within time. Remembering thousands upon thousands of years was part of the job. So why could he not remember this particular incident? He frowned.

"…" He could say nothing. Rouge waited another moment, and then looked away, toward the others, his question written on his face. Ildon screwed his features up as he tried to recall it as well, but it was clear the Mystic was drawing a blank. Orlouge fared no better. And Zozma was too stupid to understand that Rouge didn't want to see that.

"You know, I can't remember, either," the red-head stated with a shrug, "Huh. I wonder if we got conked on the head too hard." Ildon just snorted, but it felt dry and mocking amidst the silence from the others. Rouge's eyes watered as he looked at the ground. Now he was certain that only he knew what had truly happened. Sure, Blue had nearly caught on a while ago, but that barely counted. For all Blue knew, Rouge was simply worried about Ciato. And that wasn't a lie.

As the others began to discuss the new fact, at least new to them, that they couldn't remember anything concerning the destruction of space, Rouge came to the realization that he had a choice now. And it was one that would affect himself, his friends, and everything else. He had the perfect opportunity, and a solid memory as well. He could tell them all the truth, remind them how Ciato had shattered the celestial terminal and began the chain of destruction. Or he could stay silent and let them think he knew nothing. He wasn't sure which was best. If he told them the truth, Ciato would most likely be killed, and Blue would definitely wonder why he hadn't spoken of it earlier. But if he didn't… Ciato would be safe, and could live a somewhat peaceful life. For some reason, that was important to Rouge.

The decision was going to be a painful one no matter what Rouge decided. He knew that instantly; someone was going to get hurt, and it didn't matter what he chose. His mind knew that if he didn't say, they could be facing this forever and more if Ciato still had some piece of the terminal with him. There was no way to know if the eruptions had eased the insanity within him. But his heart wanted to give Ciato some time to escape and recover. It wasn't truly the Mystic's fault. The knowledge that the world was left to their shoulders was just too much, and Rouge couldn't blame him for what he did. Ciato was just one man, after all, and all men had their downfalls.

Blue must have sensed Rouge's thoughts, or at the very least that he was having them. He looked at his younger brother and put a hand on the man's shoulder. It was comforting, but somehow, Rouge gave a shudder. If Blue found out, he wouldn't sit with it.

"Little brother, are you all right?" Blue asked calmly, and Rouge looked at him, "You've been distracted. What's wrong?" Rouge shook a bit. He looked away. Was there a way to nudge Blue without letting the others know? Blue might show some mercy. But Ildon would not, and neither would Orlouge or the Time Lord. Even Fuse and Zozma would show contempt for the white-haired Mystic.

"I'm just wondering… with Ciato missing, what if he's been swallowed by space?" Rouge asked, and looked over at the others, "Or what if he's been possessed? If space was ripped apart, anything could come out of the voids, couldn't it?" Everyone stared, trying to digest the mage's words. That could have explained where Ciato went.

"You think he's dead? Or possibly even involved?" Ildon questioned incredulously, watching Rouge carefully. Rouge bit his lip, trying to appear innocent enough to convince Ildon. The man was perceptive even beyond the Mystics' normal abilities.

"I don't know what I think, but I do know no one's seen him," Rouge said plainly, worriedly adding, "And I know that if he hasn't joined you, something bad may have happened." Ildon and Zozma exchanged glances, knowing that what was said may have been the case. Ciato was the darkest of the princes, the one most prone to dealing with death. Death was not a foe to take lightly, and it may have returned to claim him. The mere thought scared even Ildon, who was hardened by the darkness.

"Then he's no better off than Rastaban," Ildon whispered, looking away. Zozma patted him on the shoulder, knowing how painful the loss was. Ildon and Rastaban had been lovers for centuries now. Then again, Ildon and Ciato were lovers, too. The loss of Ciato could've been just as painful.

"I know it hurts, buddy. We'll get them back," the red-head said comfortingly, but Ildon couldn't feel the warmth. In truth, he felt Ciato got what he deserved, but he knew Rastaban wouldn't feel the same. Rastaban would do everything in his power to save the Mystic, wherever the bastard might be hiding. So, for his sake, Ildon knew he'd have to learn the truth.

"What if we can't?" Ildon asked, looking up at Zozma, "What if the human's right, and Ciato was swallowed whole?"

"Then Kylin could find him," the Time Lord told them both, and they stared, "If your friend is lost within space, then only Kylin could find him." Ildon wanted to believe that, but if Ciato was trapped, then it was only logical to reason that he was lost forever. No one had ever survived a vortex in space; Ciato was no exception. No matter how powerful a prince he happened to be.

Rouge's words, however, had a worse impact on Ildon than the vain Mystic wanted to admit. Zozma had been willing to let the situation go as soon as the Time Lord said Kylin could find him. But Ildon couldn't be so naïve, and it was more than just a vortex. The fact that he couldn't even remember it terrified him. He had been _right there_ when it happened. And Rouge's other suggestion, with Ciato being possessed… that one was far more likely to happen. And that was the one that truly worried Ildon. The former would simply mean Ciato was dead. And while death was rare within the Mystic kingdom, it would eventually be mourned and forgotten. But if the hypothetical vortex had spawned a shadow… the darkness within Ciato would attract it like the strongest magnet.

There was more to it than that. Ildon shook his head, and looked at Rouge as he talked to Zozma and Blue. Something wasn't right. How on earth could a human come up with that thought? And how could _they_, the _Mystics_, not have thought of such things? Ciato was one of them, after all. Was it simply because no one cared what happened to the white-haired son of a submariner? Ildon wasn't quite sure, but he knew an inconsistency when he smelled it. He frowned as he watched the small conversation. So far, it consisted of Zozma trying to think of ways to get into space and save his buddy; the main problem was that they had no rocket, and the shard was gone. And no one was ready to try building a rocket, yet. Blue was valiantly trying to argue these crucial points. Unfortunately, logic never went far with Zozma.

Ildon understood quickly that if he wanted to know more, he'd have to find a way to talk with Rouge privately. That meant getting Blue and Zozma out of the way, first. The latter was easy; throw a potato chip, and he'd fetch it forever. But Blue was far more difficult. Blue was Rouge's own brother, and he knew when and where his little brother was in danger. If he thought for a second that Ildon would harm him, Blue would never let the two be alone. Ildon had to think carefully about how to approach this. Then it hit him. He didn't need to think at all. They had something they needed to find _right there_. All he had to do was convince Blue that he was a decent partner for Rouge…

Ildon waited until darkness finally fell. With the shard released, time had once again begun to march forward, and though the sun was slow to set, it finally met its due course. There was no better time. By then, Zozma had managed to find some form of food for them, and with what little knowledge Blue had about camping, they were able to start a fire and cook their meal. Now, Zozma was fast asleep, and both Orlouge and the Time Lord were discussing what they should try to do next, concerning the shard and where to head. Ildon found Blue alone, putting the fire out as Rouge went to dispose of the carcass.

"How're you feeling?" Blue asked calmly, seeing Ildon out of the corner of his eye. Ildon stopped for a moment, slighted by the question. Normally, Mystics didn't bother with this sort of talk unless they wanted something. Or unless they were Rastaban. Quickly, the green-haired man shoved the thought away before it brought tears to his eyes.

"I am… better," Ildon said slowly, and then looked away, toward where the shard had flown off, "But I'm concerned. Orlouge wants to find that shard."

"As do we all," Blue replied simply, dumping a heap of dirt onto the last few embers, and stomping it soundly, "But it fell over the cliffs. There's no doubt it landed somewhere out of reach, don't you think?" Ildon hummed. He hadn't seen much of the terrain, but he didn't think the mountain was particularly steep. Unless it landed in a gorge, the shard had to be somewhere. It was just a matter of where.

"That's why I intend to search," Ildon told him, and Blue looked up, "And I would like to take Rouge with me." As he expected, this caused a great deal of worry in Blue. It wasn't that he distrusted Ildon, but Blue understood that Rouge was far more fragile than himself. If Ildon pushed him the wrong way… Blue shook his head, crossing his arms.

"Not without me," the blonde stated firmly, unyieldingly. Ildon frowned. He knew Blue would be the over-protective big brother. He also knew there wouldn't be much to convince Blue to let Rouge go. He had to try something.

"He knows something," Ildon said darkly, and Blue's brows creased in agitation, "Listen to me. It is obvious Ciato's disappearance weighs on him. He wants answers, and perhaps if I take him, he'll get them." Blue softened a bit. That was true enough, and he had seen it within his brother as well. But he couldn't bring himself to question; he knew Rouge wouldn't lie unless it was urgent. This clearly was worse than it seemed.

"So you see it as well," Blue whispered, and coughed, "Very well. If you think it could help Rouge…"

"I'm not sure what can, but we need to know the truth," Ildon cut in, and for once, his emotion showed in his voice, "Rastaban is dead, but Ciato may still live. He… _they_ deserve to know the truth, and so do we all." Blue couldn't disagree. He nodded.

"I understand. I'll be here if you need me," he told the Mystic, and then looked down, "Just… do not push him too hard. Whatever he knows, or whatever he thinks… Rouge won't tell us if he feels threatened." Ildon could only smirk. Ciato was the same way, only he was much worse about it. He sighed, and then patted Blue on the back. For once, working with humans wasn't so bad.

"I'll do my best to help him and to find that shard," Ildon promised, and he was sincere, "And… thank you. I was sure you'd stop me." Blue snorted, and his eyes softened a bit. In truth, he almost had. But there was more than one person who felt loss in this, and it wasn't just Ildon or Rouge. It was himself, Fuse, and many others who lost those they loved dearly.

"We've all lost those close to us," Blue began, "You've lost Rastaban, Rouge has lost Ciato – and I do believe somewhere he does love him – Fuse has lost Silence, and I've lost Princess Lion. It would be selfish if I didn't let you do this." Ildon nodded, but his eyes went distant. What Blue said confirmed what he felt; Rouge had to be hiding something if he truly cared about Ciato. But how bad it was, only Rouge would know. For the time being, Blue's cooperation was more than enough.

After saying farewell to Blue, locating Rouge was an easy task. He was close to a small brook further down the east side of the mountain, where the cliffs were not so steep. In truth, it was much like a large hill – grassy, with only softer declines and a few jutting rocks to block their passage. The land was relatively dry as well; the desert only a few miles away carried much heat that spread far and wide in this world. The chance of falling directly to their deaths was slim to none. That was all the better, in Ildon's calculating mind.

When he finally located the young mage, he explained that Blue wanted them both to find the shard. At first, Rouge seemed thoroughly confused by the request, but he didn't take long to trust in his brother's judgment. Ildon hated exploiting that one weakness within the twins, but this was far more important. He had to know what Ciato's role in this whole catastrophe was, and if Rouge knew of it, he'd go to any level to find out. Even if that meant tricking them both. Besides, it wasn't _exactly_ a lie. _Someone_ had to eventually find the shard. No one would mind if it happened to be both a Mystic and a human.

For the first few minutes, the hike was silent as Ildon picked his way down the hill, toward the semi-bottom floor. He had to be careful now. He knew approximately where the shard had fallen, and if he wanted his ploy to be convincing, he had to make it look as if he was actually trying to search for it. The good news was, Rouge was far more naïve than his older brother. He'd believe pretty much anything so long as it made sense, and it was difficult for things to not make sense to the boy. Deciding that shadows were the best way to go in case something went wrong, Ildon snuck around outcroppings of the bigger rocks, while Rouge kept to the high ground and used their vantage points to scout the ground for anything that would glitter in the moonlight.

The truth of it was, there wasn't much to see. For now, they were in a flat grassland that stretched for a few miles before spanning off toward the forest in the east-southeast, or toward the desert directly south. The mountains cut off the view of the north, but Rouge knew the crystal couldn't have fallen there. He, along with Ildon and Blue, had seen where it had been tossed off the edge; it was no more than a few miles from where they were, but the direction they should take was questionable. Even with a moderately-sized search party, it could take days to uncover anything of importance. Which begged the question of why Blue would send only the two of them out.

"Are you sure we'll be able to find it?" Rouge finally asked, when Ildon came out from under a dark niche and looked up at him, "I'm not seeing much of anything, save for grass and the trees in the distance."

"We've got to try," Ildon reminded him, but inside, he knew his luck wasn't that good. Rouge may have been naïve, but he had obviously seen some flaws in Ildon's plans. One of them was that this place was just too damn big for two people. Quickly, he added, "I thought it'd be best that we go while we still have strength. Most of the others are asleep." He had looked away, and did not see that Rouge was eyeing him suspiciously.

"_You_ thought?" he repeated, and at his tone, Ildon's eyes widened, "You said this was Blue's idea." So much for being convincing. Ildon now knew why Mystics hated tricking humans. Unless they were particularly charming, they just weren't good at it. Or perhaps that was a problem Ildon shared alone. He cursed himself a thousand times for it.

"It was. But I was the one who suggested not sending out a big party," Ildon lied, "We don't exactly know what happened to the shard, and if it summons another tyrannosaurus after us, a bigger party only invites trouble." For a moment, Ildon wasn't sure if Rouge believed him. If he hadn't, he didn't show it, for he simply shrugged and jumped off the rock, landing next to the flustered Mystic. Then he looked near the forest. Not even a day ago, he and the Time Lord had been terrorized by the resident trees while searching for the shard in question. In the dark, it looked even more intimidating, and even from there, the mists coiling on the forest floor were visible.

"I hope the thing didn't land in _there_," he said pointedly, and at Ildon's quizzical glance, he said, "There's treants living in the woods. Blue barely killed them before the rest of our magical reserves ran dry."

"So humans are affected by that lack as well? I was worried that magic might disappear," Ildon told him worriedly, and his brow knitted together, "Let's hope luck's on our side and we find the shard, or we may come back to four dead Mystics, myself included." Rouge could only look ahead. Ildon had not mentioned Ciato, and Ciato was also in danger, if magic was disappearing. Once again, he knew there was a reason the white-haired man was left out.

They walked only a few yards from the rocks before Rouge took up another site at a ledge which held a drop of only twenty feet below. Here, he felt he might have more luck; there were a few places the shard could have been hidden, and in the shadow, the moonlight would reveal a tiny sliver of glass. Ildon clearly agreed, for he slipped into the shadows instantly when he saw Rouge take up the spot on the tip of the tallest rock. Here, he noticed the ground was slick with dew. At first, he was going to chalk it up to the frost that may have collected in the shadow, but then he realized that it was too warm for even that. Something else had caused it, but this world was too dry for rain. If it had rained, the upper ledges would have been far more treacherous.

Ildon eyed the forest Rouge had warned him of. He didn't miss the coils of green mist, and while it was far away, the breeze could easily carry that mist over this way. There was little to obstruct the path; rocks were all there were, and any updraft would defy that meager defense. It was possible the mist could reach here. And if that were true, so could any horrible effects from the mist. He couldn't be certain, but Ildon understood that mist was a dangerous conduit for disease of the soul. Grey mists often accompanied the undead, and a black mist indicated evil of the worst kind. A green mist could kill, or at least infect, anything with whatever it carried. That could explain the treants very easily.

He told this to Rouge, and the young man's reaction was to escape before Ildon was proved right. But in the darkness, Rouge couldn't remember where they had come, and Ildon wasn't ready to give up the search. It had barely been an hour, and Blue might wonder what went wrong if they came back with absolutely nothing, either physically or informational. Ildon was also quick to remind him that the forest was miles off. Treants, while powerful, were very slow and could only actually attack with their branches or with uprooting their feet. They were safe, until morning. And that was only if Blue didn't start looking for them. Rouge was reluctant, but he gave in to the Mystic's reasoning.

They moved westward after that, parallel to the mountain and away from the forest's edge. The moon was higher now, and the light from it was brighter. The shadows were thinned as a result, and Ildon was dismayed at the thought of staying within that light. It'd make it easier for anything hostile to spot them. But the light put Rouge at ease, and so the Mystic offered no complaint. Comfort often led to communication, and that was his prime goal, after all.

"So," Ildon began conversationally, when they stopped at one spot that held a soft glow, "Why're you so worried about Ciato all of the sudden? Are you afraid he's involved?" It was a valid question, but not the best time to ask. Rouge froze for a second; Ildon barely caught it.

"…not really," Rouge lied slowly, passing it off as just regular hesitancy, "I mean, anything could have happened. I'm just worried because he's been with us for a while." Ildon wasn't convinced. He didn't know Rouge well, but he knew him enough to know Ciato was a pain in his ass.

"You sound like you had some ideas before," Ildon said, remembering Blue's words and trying to figure out which questions were best asked, "Maybe they could help us sort this out. We're all worried about him." Rouge was aware that Ildon was looking for something. It was rare enough for the man to show anything other than contempt for Ciato. Sympathy was too out-of-character, even if Ciato was… _had been_ his lover before.

"Not really. I'm just trying to find some way to help," Rouge said, glancing at the older Mystic, "I mean, the possession thing? Come on, could that actually happen?" He chuckled a bit to throw Ildon off guard, but Ildon was smarter than that. They both knew possession was a common problem, especially in the darker worlds where shadows ruled. Ildon looked away, his lips thin. This was starting to turn into a bad idea, nothing more than a game of cat and mouse. And he disliked both animals in question.

"It's something," Ildon grumbled, watching Rouge carefully, "Do you think it could have happened to him? You think that _is_ what happened?" Rouge bit his lip. He knew it was, that it was a darker part, the darkest part of Ciato that did this. Ildon had him.

"I'd hate to think he's out there, possessed by some demon," Rouge finally whispered, and it was the absolute truth, "He might never survive."

"Except that you know he has," Ildon said suddenly, gravely, and Rouge started, "Rouge, I know you know something. Stop stuttering and tell me the truth. You know what's happened, don't you?" Rouge's skin looked as white as a banshee's, and he was shivering now. Perhaps that was a bit harsh, but Ildon didn't have hours to spend bantering with a human. He wanted answers.

"…maybe I do, but I won't risk anyone killing Ciato. What happened wasn't entirely his fault," Rouge said firmly, and looked away, "The mind is a fragile thing. Anything could cause it to snap." Ildon digested that carefully, and nodded. At least this was a start. Anything more would be a plus, he figured.

"Ciato's mind snapped?" Ildon asked, and when Rouge didn't answer, he said, "I won't kill him. I just need to know what happened." Whether that was enough or not was irrelevant. Rouge obviously felt someone else needed to know about this, because he obliged.

"I think it did. I'm not sure what went through his head," Rouge began quietly, looking down, "But I saw him. He pushed the Time Lord out of the way, and decimated that terminal they were using. I don't know how, or why he did it, but he's the one who caused this." Rouge couldn't even bring himself to look at Ildon. If he knew the Mystic right, he had a feeling Ildon wasn't going to forgive Ciato at all. And for a while, Ildon was completely silent.

"So he killed everyone we know?" Ildon asked quietly, and Rouge's silence was enough of an answer, "And you're trying to protect him." Rouge flinched. Put that way, it was more an accusation than anything else. But it was the truth, and Rouge couldn't deny it at all. He wanted Ciato to be safe, because he understood the horrors a mind could go through. He was out of it for three months when Blue managed to revive him. Hell only knew what Ciato would end up like.

"What did you want me to do? Kill him?" Rouge asked, just as accusingly as Ildon had been. But Ildon was tougher, and didn't back down. His frown only worsened.

"I wanted you to tell us the truth so we didn't face _this_," Ildon said sternly, almost in a scold, "Ciato is out there, half out of his mind, and there's not a damn we can do. We can't even find the shard we need now…"

"And that is _not_ my fault!" Rouge yelled violently, and Ildon stopped, "You're going to blame _me_ for all of this? That's rich, for a Mystic." The last part, Rouge spoke softly. But it hit Ildon as if he'd been screaming it. Ildon's eyes widened, and for a moment, Rouge thought he saw tears springing in them. Obviously, he cared more about Ciato than he wanted to admit. And for a reason Rouge couldn't grasp, that angered him a bit. Ildon was always bickering with Ciato, and he was the one who said Ciato would get what he deserved. Why was he so upset about it now?

"…you have no idea what we've even been through," Ildon said quietly, and turned away, "If you care about him so much, you'd have asked if he even cared about _you_." He walked down the sloping hill, leaving Rouge to stand there in silence. The mage knew that was meant to hurt him, but he understood that the words had no basis. Ciato protected him on multiple occasions, and was even somewhat kind to him when he wanted to be. That was more than he could say for the green-haired Mystic. Though, he also had to admit, Ildon had known the man for centuries. Rouge knew him for less than three months.

Rouge didn't bring it up again. He followed Ildon down the hill, closer toward the edge of the wood, but he didn't say anything. He knew it'd be suicidal. Outwardly, Ildon seemed to have gotten over it quickly, but Mystics were like that: smoke and mirrors. No one could ever truly know what they were thinking. But if Rouge had to guess, he was willing to bet Ildon wouldn't mind running him with a sword. That thought sent shivers up his spine, as they continued down. Eventually, Ildon slowed; they were coming particularly close to the wood. But whether it was out of worry or simply out of whim, Rouge couldn't say.

Ildon stayed for several moments, however, and sniffed the air. Something didn't feel right to him, as if some shift in the current was off. Rouge watched him, tilting his head. Mystics had a good sense of smell, but when Rouge tried, he couldn't smell anything. And by the look on his face, neither had Ildon. But the Mystic didn't move. Instead, he knelt down, drawing an intricate rune on the floor. It sparked for a moment, and then it just died. Ildon's frown worsened.

"What's going on?" Rouge whispered, but his voice cut through the air regardless. Ildon glanced over, as if considering whether to even answer him. Then, he smiled weakly, pointing to the rune. It seemed to be burned into the dirt.

"I can feel the magic coming off of the shard," the Mystic replied, and then added, "But I can't tell where it's coming from."

"A rune could change that?" Rouge inquired curiously, and when Ildon stared, he said, "I've studied runes from Devon, and none of them consist of tracking spells. Any others are in languages I can't read." At this, Ildon gave a smirk. That was because most runes were based off of the old language, older than Mystics, older than any other race alive. Only a select few were chosen to learn it. And only a few more managed to _steal_ the scripts translating those runes. Ildon was of the latter. And Rouge understood it quickly.

"Then you probably can't get me arrested," the green-haired man said darkly, and then turned back to the rune, "Anyway, the rune I've used should have pinpointed the location, but it appears that the power of the spell is drained before it can be achieved." Rouge nodded. That made sense. Normal means of magic were impossible; if there was something absorbing magic, then anything that took even a fraction of a second to cast would be swallowed as well. Ildon was prepared for this. He took something out of his pocket. It glinted slightly in the moonlight.

"Now what?" Rouge asked him, and eyed the object. It was a crystal, a tiny, little shard that was attached to a fine, silver chain. Though it looked frail, Rouge knew the tool well. He had been forced to use it when he was seventeen, some four years ago. And he had never wanted to see it again, now or ever as he asked, "A pendulum?"

"Crystals are sentient, and they can conduct the spectral energies quite well. That's why necromancers and shamans use them so often," Ildon explained as he focused the crystal's tip directly over the center of the rune, "The _shard of time_ carries only spectral energy, because time isn't physical. My pendulum should be able to pick it up."

"But I thought pendulums could only answer questions about the indefinite future," Rouge stated, his brow arched in confusion, "When I was forced to use one, my teachers told us the pendulum was used to bring answers from the spectral planes, and that they moved only in accordance to a yes-or-no answer." At this, Ildon laughed. To a normal human, that was the only reason to consult the other planes. But for Mystics, such tools were far more valuable. He simply shook his head. If only Rouge had been trained by Rastaban, he might have a clue as to the power they held.

"That's because your teachers were a bunch of ignorant, blithering morons who couldn't tell a crystal ball from a beholder's eye," Ildon told him flatly, and then looked down at his pendulum with an affection that he rarely showed for anything, save for Rastaban, "When you think of it, this _is_ a yes-or-no question. Will we find the shard? Yes. Will we find it in _this_ spot? No. Will this pendulum help us find it? Yes. You see?" In truth, Rouge didn't. But it was easier to agree than to ask anything further. He'd learn firsthand how it worked soon enough.

And indeed, what Ildon said was true. The pendulum helped them locate the shard. At first, the tiny crystal didn't move when Ildon asked for the location. Rouge had thought that perhaps it wouldn't work, but then Ildon rephrased his question; he didn't ask 'where was the crystal,' rather he asked, 'can you help us find it.' And _that_ was when the pendulum worked, because that was a question that could only be answered with a yes or a no. The pendulum shot out of Ildon's hands, going northwestward at an alarming speed. Ildon watched it, eerily worried that perhaps it would dive straight into the living wood. But at the last second, it took a sharp turn, heading almost directly west, vanishing around the round corner of the hill.

Not wanting to lose it, Ildon and Rouge ran after it. The field before them erupted in a soft, orange light, as if the dawn were just breaking beyond the mountains around them. But a quick look in the sky told them it was only a trick of some sort; the stars twinkled, though dim, and Rouge saw that darkness enveloped the horizon; dawn was many hours away. The orange light was emitted by a small object embedded on the ground. And the pendulum stopped, dropping to the dirt right next to it. Ildon and Rouge came to a halt, the former squinting his eyes in the extreme burst of illumination. It hurt his sensitive eyes to behold such a powerful glow.

Not wishing that pain on Ildon, Rouge bent down and scraped the object in question out of the dirt, wiping it clean. It took no time to see that it was the shard they were looking for. Its surface was still smooth, but despite the bright light, it was cold to the touch. Rouge stood there, looking at it for a long moment. He had never felt it before, but he had assumed such powerful artifacts would have been warm from the energy they gave off. Now he was worried that they were too late.

"It's cold," he said to Ildon, turning and holding out the tiny shard, "Are they supposed to be that way?" Ildon took the crystal in his hand, turning it in the moonlight. The orange glow had been extinguished the moment it was recovered, and while some of its power was gone, it still had many, many reserves left. Yet, it was deathly cold.

"I'm not sure, but we can always ask the Time Lord," Ildon replied, but something in his voice said he wasn't convinced of that. Rouge caught it.

"You're worried, too," he concluded, and at that, the Mystic nodded, putting the shard in his pocket. Even beneath two layers of cloth, the chilly crystal penetrated all the way toward his skin. Ildon visibly shivered.

"I've never been near a relic like this," Ildon admitted after a long pause, "So I can't be sure of what will happen or how it works. The important thing is that we have it. Now we can try and figure out how it will work." Rouge's brows arched as he considered the tone. He had also assumed that someone would know how to activate the shard's powers; the Mystics seemed to know the most about magic, after all.

"Neither Orlouge nor the Time Lord know?" he asked. Ildon looked at him. He didn't need to even answer.

"We have what we need," was all the Mystic said, before turning toward the incline, stepping up as easily as if he were going up a stairway, "Come. Your brother might be getting worried, and I am growing tired." Rouge said nothing. He knew Blue was concerned about him, but right then, he had too many questions running through his mind concerning the shard. One of them was if they could even use it. If the Time Lord didn't know how to, how were they expected to unlock it?

As he followed Ildon back toward the cliff faces, past the rolling meadow they had come from, Rouge couldn't help but look back. As glad as he was that they had found the shard, something about that light nagged at him. It was as if it were a warning, not a calling. The best thing to do _would_ be to give it to the Time Lord. And for some reason, even thinking that made Rouge nervous.

Through a thought he didn't know he had, a bond that he didn't know existed, Rouge understood that the crystal _should not_ be used.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

After regrouping, Rouge finally tells the team that something may be up with Ciato, and that he knows something about it. But perception is not the team's best strength, and only Ildon and Blue catch onto Rouge's subtle hints. With Blue's permission, Ildon has managed to get some information concerning Ciato's disappearance, and now with the _shard of time_ in hand, he and Rouge can return and consult the Time Lord about its use. But something isn't right, and Rouge can feel it. Something doesn't want the crystal to be used. What is trying to contact Rouge, and why doesn't it want them to return to their time? Is it Kylin, telling them he isn't finished with the repairs on the terminal? Or is it something else, something far more sinister? Find out next chapter, and click that Review button!


	44. Fuse Wants to help the Team, Too

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does. They're appalled that I listened to an upbeat anime soundtrack while fighting Orlouge. It's not my fault that I hated his boss theme.

They reached the campsite shortly after eleven in the evening. By that time, almost everyone had retired to bed. Blue remained outside of a small tent, no doubt waiting up for his brother's return, and was more than a little relieved when he saw Rouge and Ildon climbing the rocks that adorned the far side of the camp. He put down the book he had managed to keep, and walked over to them. It was evident, painfully so, that he had grown quite concerned since they departed, and Rouge saw that he and Ildon exchanged knowing glances before he smiled and clasped Rouge's shoulder.

"Did you find it?" he asked, referring to the shard. Ildon nodded and showed him the tiny crystal. It was glowing faintly, but otherwise looked as common as the ore underneath Koorong. The only thing that told him it was the shard was the slight power emanating from it. It must have lost quite a bit of energy.

"It wasn't far from here," Ildon said, as Blue took the shard to examine it, "Maybe a mile southwest. Unfortunately, it doesn't have much power left to it."

"No doubt that most of it was spent transporting that dinosaur," Blue commented absently, holding the shard toward the campfire. It appeared almost cloudy now, and that worried him. He had learned that such a cloudiness meant impurities of some kind, and he hated to think that the shard was infected with something.

As Blue continued his examination, with Ildon close by to answer any questions, Rouge looked around the camp to see if anything of interest had occurred. Somewhere during their outing, someone had erected a tent that seemed like it could hold all of them. Rouge took a peek inside, and found the Mystics fast asleep on straw mats. Zozma tossed a bit, but still had his usual grin intact, so he wasn't too badly off, wherever he was. And both Orlouge and the Time Lord were snoring loudly, no doubt exhausted with their own magic being drained continuously. Oddly enough, however, Fuse was not among them. Considering that he had been asleep when they first appeared, Rouge wondered where the bumbling cop could've been.

Backing away from the tent, Rouge turned and looked carefully around him. Fuse couldn't have gone too far; he was fairly unarmed and didn't possess any magic at all, and he wasn't stupid enough to leave without some level of personal protection. But there was no sign of him. Rouge walked toward the cliff edge and looked down. From there, he could see for miles across the grassland to the south, and saw the edges of the desert toward the southeast. There was no sign of the cop in either places, though the darkness could have easily obscured him.

Rouge glanced back at Blue, wondering if the older magician might know something. If Blue had kept a vigil while waiting for them, he must have surely seen if the cop had left. But why would he let someone like Fuse wander around such a dangerous world? There were many things that could have eaten him; dinosaurs and living trees were the top two concerns in Rouge's long list. Then again, Fuse was nothing short of a thorn in their sides, so perhaps Blue had darker motives than they knew. Rouge decided he didn't want any secrets about his brother. He walked back just as Blue and Ildon noticed he had left.

"Where the hell is Fuse?" the younger man asked curiously, his brow arching in amusement. Blue snorted softly and pointed north, where a copse of primitive trees sat. The night hid anything that might have been running through there, but Rouge knew Fuse could use that to the fullest advantage.

"When he awoke, all he remembered was that 'he ain't where he's supposed to be," Blue replied, mocking their boss's accent to a tee, "He ran in there to try and stake the scene out, and I haven't the heart to tell him that there's nothing to see." At that, Rouge laughed. That certainly did sound like something Fuse would do. Never mind how illogical it was.

"Best to let the boss do his own thing," Rouge concluded, to which Blue agreed, "At least he's not in too much danger. What do you make of the shard?" Blue noticed that Rouge had been staring at it for a minute, and looked down at it. In all honesty, he wasn't sure what he should have thought. He shrugged.

"It's definitely in a weakened state," he stated calmly, "But there should be a way to recharge it."

"We _can_ use it, though, right?" Ildon asked him, and Blue nodded. There was a confident grin on his face, one he got only when he knew what he said was right. It brought a renewed hope in Rouge to see, for he trusted his twin beyond all else.

"Absolutely. Its power is questionable, but it does still have something left to it," the magician replied seriously, and then frowned, "Unfortunately, there isn't much to recharge it with. We'll need to ask the Time Lord about it, because I'm not even familiar with these shards. What I want to suggest may not work." Ildon and Rouge glanced at each other curiously. Neither had worked with crystals for long, so they couldn't begin to guess what could cure one. But Blue had studied crystal-work for some time.

"And what do you suggest?" Ildon asked him squarely. Blue hummed a bit, and shifted nervously.

"Running water is normally a good conduit for energy transfer. Because it's situated within nature, the natural magic of the land can freely envelop the crystals if you dip them in streams and brooks," Blue explained slowly, and gestured toward the area with a sweep of his arm, "However, there's no readily available source for that, and if there is, it's guarded." Rouge understood that Blue was pointing at the cursed woods and those damned treants. And he understood immediately that he personally wouldn't be heading that way. He crossed his arms.

"I'm not fighting a damn tree," he stated firmly, "If you ask me, they should stay rooted in the ground and _not move_." Blue agreed, but he couldn't discount the idea simply because of one problem. The shard happened to be a bigger problem, at least at the moment.

"Unless either of you have seen a waterfall, though, we may have no choice," Blue said grimly, and glanced at both human and Mystic carefully, "I leave it to the two of you, since you are the ones who've found the shard. What do we do? Find some water, or wait for the Time Lord?"

"I opt for the Time Lord," Rouge said quickly, and Ildon stared, "He has to know more than we do." Ildon blinked for what felt like a long time. That might have been true, but they'd be waiting hours, possibly days. If magic was slipping away, the Time Lord was the one suffering most of all. Could they honestly wait any longer? What would happen if the Time Lord _didn't_ know?

Before Ildon could ask either of those questions, he was nearly hailed with a blanket of bullets as a gun from the copse of trees went off. He screamed in alarm, and did a sloppy, pirouette-esque sort of maneuver before finally slipping and crashing into the dirt. Rouge and Blue turned, each drawing a weapon against the would-be attacker, fearing an ambush in their weakened state. But they saw that it was only Fuse; he had leapt from his hiding spot and was running quickly toward them, waving frantically. Rouge watched in mild fascination. Normally, Fuse never ran that fast unless someone was dying. He obviously screwed something up – royally, Rouge had to add.

Fuse stopped a few feet short of his comrades, and finally put his arms down. He saw that, while all three were shocked, none of them were hurt too badly. He completely missed Blue and Rouge, and he only managed to knock Ildon over. For someone of his self-imposed skill, he had to say that his team was lucky, even if it meant he missed all three of them. He just grinned. To him, luck was more of an asset right then than skills. Though, that was only because he had no ammo left, and guns didn't exist in that time zone. And to hell if he ever decided to use a sword. Swords were for Silence, and he had established clearly that he had a love-hate relationship with the mute son of a bitch.

"Looks like my bullets didn't gut any of you," he observed slyly, and nodded, "Good to know. Looks like you learned a new technique for the field, boys." The two twins glanced at each other flatly. They learned to never take that sort of compliment seriously. It was half-assed at best.

"What the hell were you trying to do, boss?" Rouge asked, brow arched. He knew the answer would be pretty terrible, but it was like an itch: once you scratched it, you had to tear the whole thing apart before it stopped bugging you. And Fuse, so to speak, was the Neosporin that could stop said itch. He blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"Now, don't get too mad, but I was rigging that copse up with traps just in case they ended up being like those damn trees that tried to eat you two," Fuse told them quickly, almost defensively, "But I accidentally set off my Super-Shotgun trap with the toe of my boot, and the kickback blew me clear out of the tree before I could stop it." Rouge just nodded. That almost made sense, but in that familiar sense of not making much sense at all. Why Fuse would rig an entire forest was a mystery not worth solving. Did he actually think bullets would kill a _tree?_ Maybe if they were on _fire_…

"If you set off one trap, how did it hit us when we're over one hundred yards away!?" Ildon grumbled, getting up off the ground and wiping his pants off. He wasn't exactly in the mood for the cop's antics, but he wanted to know why _he'd_ been shot. Fuse shrugged.

"The trap shot another trap, and then all the traps started going off at once," Fuse answered, as if that completely explained the lack of physics to the whole scenario, "I guess it's some sort of weird stacked effect, or some shit like that." Shit was a good word to use, because that's what Ildon thought of the whole explanation: a big pile of horse-shit, with dead flies symbolizing Fuse's unique brand of logic.

After that, things got quieter. No one could figure out what to make of Fuse's antics, or his explanation of them. Eventually, though, Rouge's normal curiosity got the better of him, and glancing back at the tent, he asked, "So, what made you think that copse was full of treants?" Fuse's face went blank, and Rouge knew quickly that his question wasn't worth asking.

"What the hell's a treant?" the clueless cop asked, and at this point, Blue just shook his head. It wasn't worth the time to explain right then; he had let Fuse leave with the hopes that perhaps the old fool would have actually spotted something interesting. Now it was time to see if that hope paid off.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Blue answered, and Rouge stared at him critically, "Fuse, did you happen to see any water anywhere?" Fuse just blinked slowly as he processed that question. To him, it was such a random question. He was on the lookout for _monsters_, so to ask about _water_ was like asking him if he'd seen aliens. The answer was obviously 'no.'

"Why the hell would I be looking for _water?_" he asked, brow arched in confusion, "Besides, it's dark out. I wouldn't have seen a damn thing." Blue wanted to point out that the moon was full, and that any water would've easily reflected the light, but he didn't. Fuse would have simply said he just didn't think to look. And that would be the end of it. Instead, the mage turned to his brother and Ildon.

"Did either of you spot anything, by any chance?" he whispered, so Fuse couldn't hear. But both Rouge and Ildon shook their heads. They had stayed generally within the vicinity of the ranges, and as far as they had seen, there was no sign of water at all. Rouge moaned miserably, fearing what that could mean.

"I don't want to fight a bunch of trees," he whined pathetically, flopping onto the ground. Blue sighed heavily, wishing that sometimes Rouge was the more mature of the two. But he understood his brother's fear, and felt that it was well-placed. Magic was the only way to actually harm the trees, and they had almost none of it. He turned to Fuse again, not sure whether he should tell the cop about the shard or not. It depended on what Fuse would believe.

"Do you know if there were any water sources nearby?" Blue asked him, and rephrased, "Based on what you were taught on how to survive, would you say there's water close by?" Fuse really couldn't understand the point of the questions, but he decided answering was best. Blue could easily become very annoying if he wanted to be.

Fuse squinted his eyes as he turned toward the cliff faces, taking a good look at what he saw before him, toward the distant horizons. He could see the forest far southeast, and the grasslands just south, and even beyond that, just a few patches of the desert Blue and Rouge had passed just a few hours before. If he had to guess, the grassland would have been the best bet if they needed water, but from what he could see, there was no source available. Judging by how dry it felt, it hadn't even rained for some time. He was surprised the grassland hadn't withered yet.

Next he turned north. Based solely on his camping trips with his father, the mountains were normally dotted with falls that provided clean water from a spring on the summit, or someplace close to it. If these mountains were anything like the ones in their time zone, there should be some kind of stream or brook on one of the slopes, or a cave that held some sort of pond. At the very least, he could see the moonlight bouncing off of the snowy caps, poking high into the night sky. It might take a few long hours' hike, but they could collect some of the snow and melt it, if they needed water so badly. The only question he had was why they needed it.

"I'd say heading north would be the best bet, boys," he finally said, turning back to find them listening intently, "I don't see shit in the south, and even if the mountain's dry, I can see some snow. Can't guarantee it's clean, but it's water." Blue exchanged a concerned look with Ildon. Snow wasn't a safe idea, and they needed to charge the shard as soon as possible.

"We need clean water," Blue stated firmly, making sure his tone said, _with no doubt_, that they needed it. Fuse narrowed his eyes, looking at the younger man suspiciously. He could only guess why Blue was being so adamant. If he wasn't _Blue_, Fuse would've chewed him out for being disobedient and difficult. But he understood that if Blue was being this stubborn, there was a reason for it.

"Look, I ain't a camper, son," Fuse told him plainly, "And I sure as hell don't see why you need it. Before I go traipsing off to find water, you'd better tell me why the hell I'm doing it!" Blue stepped back, surprised by the solemn tone in the man's voice. Normally, Fuse didn't want to admit that he just didn't know something. Was it possible he suspected something was up?

Blue could only smile weakly. If that was the case, then Fuse had a right to know. Even if it wasn't, making him go out just to find some water wasn't exactly fair. Especially since he had no way to defend himself unless dinosaurs were particularly weak against guns. And Blue didn't think a bullet would put down any monster. Except for maybe a rabbat.

"Did the Mystics mention anything about crystals or shards?" Blue asked him, but Fuse shook his head, tapping his foot.

"You kidding? They don't really say a damn to me unless it was to tell me to shut up," Fuse replied bitterly, though Blue wasn't entirely surprised by the answer, "Why? Should they have?" Blue bit his lip and glanced at Ildon. The green-haired Mystic wasn't too thrilled that he let on even that much, but he gave a grim nod. And with that, Blue explained their situation, along with his idea.

Fuse listened as best he could to Blue's story. He didn't understand most of it, and sure as hell had no idea how crystals managed to get mixed in there, but he did listen. And when Blue finished, he actually showed Fuse the shard in question. To Fuse, it was just a tiny shard, hardly worth anything. It was small, and to him, rather unattractive with all the cloudiness it carried. He eyed it carefully, trying to figure out what secret it held, how it could possibly hold so much importance. But he just couldn't see it. It didn't even give off the slightest bit of warmth.

"And you want water so you can _wash_ it?" he questioned, brow arched in mild confusion. Ildon just snorted. _Cleansing_ was a far better word to use, because _washing_ implied that it was dirty at all. Blue's lips thinned. That was more or less the reason, regardless.

"All three of us think that, if we can restore some of its power, we might be able to access the remains of the time-space continuum and travel to a different era," Blue told him seriously, "Perhaps even to Kylin, if we can." Fuse hummed, thinking about that. He didn't know much about how time or space worked, but Kylin had said that warp holes were a fast way to reach his realm. But could this tiny sliver really create one?

"Have you asked the other Mystics?" Fuse asked, and at that, Blue paled. He hadn't wanted to wake the others up, but judging by Fuse's tone, he'd need more than Blue's theory to head out to the wilderness. Fuse saw this and said, "Don't you think you should?"

"Everyone needs to rest, Fuse," Blue replied sternly, and crossed his arms, "Who's to say they'd even know, either? From what the Time Lord said to us, these shards are rare. Even if we asked, there's no guarantee they'd know the answer. But at least this way, we'd try." Fuse's eyes narrowed again. He understood the context, and the fact that Blue just threw his own logic right back in his face. Sometimes, it sucked to have such a smart rookie.

Knowing there was no other way to deter Blue's decision, and that neither Rouge or Ildon would help him, Fuse just let out a reluctant sigh. He didn't particularly want to go exploring, especially alone, but he'd do it. Only because it was technically his duty. He shook his head and leaned against a rock.

"All right, boy, you got me," he said with a resignation that wasn't normal, "I'll go get some damn water. Just pack me some food and a flashlight, and I'll be fine." Unfortunately, they had neither food nor a flashlight. In the end, Fuse was sent off with a bag of berries and a torch. That would have to be enough, and as Fuse walked down the trail, leaving the three watching, he wondered how well his father taught him to survive. If he was mauled by a black bear, a lion, or whatever the hell this world was full of, he'd know his father hadn't, and he'd finally be able to get back at the bastard for it, too.

Fuse walked down the path, looking back only once when he was nearly a mile away. By then, he couldn't even see anyone else, though he hoped at least one of his friends were keeping watch behind him, just in case he was ambushed. Then he decided that, even if they weren't, there couldn't have been much of a threat here. Hell, he'd been out camping the copse for a while and hadn't seen a damn thing. The only thing he had to fear was the darkness, and his torch shrunk that fear like a shriveled sponge. He had nothing to be afraid of.

But the further he went from the camp, the more he felt like he was being watched. Perhaps it was just cynicism, or maybe it was the fifteen-some-odd years of being on the task force, but something felt wrong. The path sloped down along the northern bank of the mountain before rising up again in a steeper pitch, and it was here that Fuse chose to stop. He looked up; the cliff walls before him stretched onwards for miles, and even at his great distance from them, he could see it would take a very long time to scale such a mountain. Silently, he hoped there was some sort of pond he could exploit. He didn't want to have to climb up a cliff. Especially when he felt so vulnerable. He had bravado, but he wasn't a moron. Bullets wouldn't last long there.

Taking a heavy sigh, Fuse continued onward. The moon was brighter now, illuminating the dirt path amidst the thinning line of trees. From what he could make out, the northern slopes consisted of mostly flat grassland, with the mountain ranges to the west and farther north. There were trees dotting the northeast range, but unless he backtracked toward the woods Rouge had been worried about, treants wouldn't find him at all. But they had dropped off the west range. And he had been unconscious through most of it. What if there were still dinosaurs up there? Fuse found he didn't want to think about that.

And he didn't have to. There was little of interest as he made his way toward his unknown goal. At least, there was little of interest in the outward sense. Inside, Fuse's mind was working to understand what was going on. Blue had explained the shard to him, but somehow, he couldn't quite understand how it could work. It was so damn tiny. Then, he simply shook his head. Maybe he wasn't meant to know everything. Let the magicians worry about the crystal, and he'd worry about finding the water. That was how he'd handle it, at least with that one worry.

The second, and most staggering worry in his mind was the bad feeling he was getting. It hadn't been there when he had left his team, but now that he was out there, alone, he wasn't sure he should be doing anything at all. And that wasn't like him. He was a go-getter, and he never let shit stand in his way. He shouldn't have been scared. Yet his head hurt and his heart pounded a little bit. It was as if there was a presence, a dark one, that wanted to scare him, make him run off to who knew where. Sometimes, Fuse swore he saw a flickering movement when he turned his head to better search the slopes. But it'd always be gone within the second.

"All right, now this is just stupid!" he called out, brows knitted after ten minutes of hesitation, "Come on out, you little sucker! I'm Fuse Flanagan of Squad 157. You ain't going to scare the shit out of me, so let's fight!" His eyes narrowed and he looked across the deserted field, half expecting some sort of monster to charge at him. But nothing heeded his call. The wind howled hollowly through the grass. Slowly, Fuse reached for his pistol. It was still loaded, like he'd left it.

"Fine. I shoot first, bastard," he growled, and as soon as he saw that flicker, he took aim and fired. He nailed three bullets into a shadow, but it slipped before he fully registered what it was. Then, it was gone. And so were three valuable bullets.

"Oh, goddamn it!" he cursed bitterly, spitting on the ground. He really didn't feel like wasting his ammo that night, but to hell if he holstered his gun and suddenly found he needed it. That had happened too many times before. He'd just have to be a bit more careful with what he thought he saw.

Twenty minutes, a dead bird-like monster, and one missing bullet later wielded him only a small change in progress. Though there were no physical signs of water around him, Fuse felt the ground begin to moisten. He slowed, and saw that the grass began to thin, and then give way to barren dirt. That was… very odd. Considering the landscape, and the fact that the desert was _in the opposite direction_, he'd have thought the vegetation would have gotten better. But it appeared to be dying out again. Perhaps the cold of the mountain was the cause. And perhaps snow _didn't_ melt into the very thing that gave the damn veggies their nutrients.

Concerned, Fuse kept his gun close and ran to where the rocks began to reach upwards into the craggy walls, and turned toward the west, where the grassland continued on for some time before it met its end at another range. Again, the ground felt wet underneath him, and he stopped, bending with his torch for a look. There was water. It was only a small trickle, but it weaved toward where he had turned. Which meant that there had to be a better source where he was heading. It was just a stretch, but that was enough. Fuse continued on, running as opposed to walking. The ground continued to grow soggy, and only when his foot actually managed to get stuck did he slow down.

His hunch pulled through. He kept close to the wall, and found that there was a basin, a small one, filled with water. It was fed by the trickling as the snow melted from the cap, which bore slight lines in the rock where the water rolled down over time. He hummed, and holstered his gun. That felt a little too easy, but there was nothing in sight when he looked to make sure. He turned back to the water, and dipped a finger inside to test it. It was bitterly cold, and was fresh when he tasted it. It cleared his throbbing head, and when he splashed it on his face, he felt refreshed and ready to continue. This had to be a pure source of water. If it wasn't, it was better than nothing.

Fuse took out a coffee mug from his coat pocket. It was a little chipped, and the 'World's Best Boss' writing was fading a bit, but it would probably carry the water needed. He dipped it into the basin, cursing himself when the cold stung his hand. Then he quickly pulled his hand back, and looked into the cup. The water was still clear, and seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. He could see his own reflection, tiny in the cup, staring up at him with the same wonderment he held. Then he nodded, knowing that now he'd have to carry it back to the camp without spilling any of it. He looked up. And that's when he came face to face with the shadow he had tried to kill.

Fuse had nearly screamed, had nearly dropped the water to the ground and shattered the mug. But fifteen years was a long time to get used to the monsters, and so he managed a yelp and a back-step, but nothing more. Though, unfortunately, the torch was sent right into the basin, shattering the little bit of light he did have. It almost made the shadow scarier to see than before, but it gave Fuse the use of his gun _and_ the ability to protect the water. He took out the pistol.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded harshly, and then added with an arched brow, "Whose shadow are you supposed to be?" Standing back, he quickly assessed his foe, and saw that it was humanlike in looks, though it was of middling stature, with long hair, and may have been effeminate with the way its shape was. But seeing as how it was a shadow, he could not tell its gender. Not that it mattered. A monster was a monster, and if it wanted to eat him, he wanted to kill it. The shadow merely hissed.

"Yeah, well, you're ugly-looking too," Fuse growled, not sure what to make of it. Knowing his bullet wouldn't work, he did something he thought might. He splashed the water over it, and the shadow began to scream. It was a high-pitched wail, more demonic than human, and it hurt Fuse's ears to hear it. But it worked. Fuse dipped the mug into the basin again, and knowing he had only a few seconds, he bolted. The shadow screamed again, but Fuse distracted it temporarily by firing another three rounds. They bounced off the rock, but they made enough noise to confuse the monster, and he was gone before it could recover.

Fuse remembered where he had gone and what he had to do to get back. He was glad his memory was good, for when he did dare to look back, he saw the shadow was pursuing him, going at roughly the same speed he was making. It wasn't gaining ground, but any faster, and Fuse knew he might be a goner. And he couldn't risk the water again. With one hand clutching the mug to his chest, Fuse aimed his pistol and shot backwards again. The shadow seemed to be of greater substance this time; the bullet hit and he heard a thud as something insubstantial fell backwards. But he didn't look. He just ran faster, and prayed his heart could keep up.

The hillock rose a few gentle steps, but a leap cleared them, and Fuse was about halfway there toward the campsite. Yet he heard the rustling, and knew the shadow was not far behind him. He cursed angrily, wishing he had some level of magic so he could summon a ray of sunlight and just smite the damn creature, send it howling back to Oblivion. Never mind the fact that magic didn't work in that particular era. Right then, bullets didn't work, either, and Fuse was willing to use anything that could pin a damned shadow. The copse came into view, and thinking it best to try to hide amongst the trees and darkness, Fuse plunged right in. The branches stung and tore at his sleeves; it was almost as if they had come alive in the night. But he continued, knowing that even in darkness, the shadow was only a step behind.

He zigzagged and climbed over branches, never taking a straight path and hoping to confuse the shadow. He heard similar scrapings as the thing passed by trees, and was relieved to find that as the night drew on, the shadow became fuller and more alive. He wasn't sure how or why, but soon, he would be able to actually fight. First, though, he'd have to find a good battlefield, a place where he had an advantage. And the copse wasn't it. But he had to admit, he was still gaining the advantage he wanted. He heard a moan as the shadow tripped on an unseen log, and now he dared to look back. He was halfway up a tree, and had a solid footing. He could risk one glance.

That glance made him nearly fall out of the tree. The shadow was no longer a shadow, but a person. Or, at the very least, a humanoid. But humans didn't have dark wings sprouting out of their back, or two horns poking out of their head. Nor did they normally wear torn leather armor. Nor did they give off an energy so immersed in evil that it made Fuse's blood freeze in his veins. He felt his throat seize up, and quickly scrambled up to a high branch when the shadow began to pick itself up. It looked up, obviously looking for where Fuse had gone. It couldn't find him, but Fuse saw its face, and couldn't help but think it looked familiar. The features were angular and sharp, attractive to those who were vain, but otherwise giving the creature a smug expression. The nose was straight, the mouth thin and drawn, and the cheeks looked thin. But most of it was obscured in an unnatural shadow, and when the eyes flashed up, Fuse saw they were red.

"What in hell is that thing?" he whispered to himself, scanning his mind for anything that could have helped him. His first thought went to an Incubus, but even they were not as beautiful, nor as regal, as this. He took a steadying breath, and continued to watch. For now, it seemed preoccupied with prowling the ground, not even considering that its target had gone high into the trees.

"What's it looking for?" Fuse asked quietly, narrowing his eyes. He reached into his coat and held the mug of pure water. Originally, he had thought that it wanted the water. That was how it appeared at all, but when he had tossed it, the purity had literally hurt the shadow, had possibly been responsible to its continuous shift into life. Now, it wasn't even going after him. It was looking for something else.

Fuse's eyes hardened when he realized that the shard might have been it. That would've made sense – at least more so than a mug of water. And if it were true, then Blue and the others were in danger. Fuse's fist clenched and he put the mug away. He knew nothing about how crystals worked, but he wasn't about to let his team get mauled by a creature of the abyss. Especially if that crystal was their only hope. Fuse looked around. The creature was rummaging through a pile of leaves, and its back was turned toward him. He had two options: he could jump on its back and try to strangle it, or he could leap down and run, continuing the chase that had been started. He just wasn't sure which would be worse. The former meant death, and the latter meant risking multiple lives for a chance that might not have even worked. At least with the latter, though, there'd be more people to fight the horrid shadow. Fuse leapt from the branch, and landed with a thud. And then, he was off before the shadow even saw.

Fuse didn't stop until the camp came into view, and even then, he had begun to yell and scream, hoping he could attract someone's attention before that shadow returned, assuming it hadn't already. Ildon and Blue ran out, both with their swords drawn, and saw Fuse returning. Ildon sheathed his blade, but Blue immediately sensed something was wrong. Fuse was an idiot sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. To scream like that would've meant attracting a lot of attention, and Blue had been absolutely clear that that wasn't what they wanted. Something was horribly wrong.

"Sir, what's going on?" he asked, when Fuse finally slowed enough to stop without tripping. The flustered cop was out of breath; he was obviously terrified of something. But he shook his head, trying to act as if he were just tired. Blue didn't buy it.

"Get in the damn tent and let's get that shard cleaned," the cop said quickly, and that shocked Blue even further. Normally, Fuse didn't care about magic or what he called 'hocus-pocus crap.' Blue glanced at Ildon, and saw a similar expression plague the Mystic's face.

"Shouldn't we wake the Time Lord?" the green-haired Mystic asked warily, and Fuse shook his head again, his brows creasing in agitation.

"Are you shitting me!? You assholes send me out there and _now_ you want to wake everyone up!?" Fuse growled, though Blue suspected that if everyone had been woken, it was from Fuse himself, "Get in the goddamned tent!" His adamancy was half-expected, but it was clear he was confusing the two men before him. Fuse found he wanted to hit them with a baton for their hesitancy. This was serious, and for once, he was trying to help them out.

"Fuse, what's gotten into you?" Blue asked calmly, fearing Ildon's sarcasm would only anger the cop further, "You're normally not so scared. Did you find something?" Blue's tone calmed the cop considerably, and he stopped shaking. He bit his lip; he didn't want to tell them what he had seen. He wasn't sure how they'd react, or if it had even been real. It _was_ late, after all, and the shadows were thick around them.

"You ain't going to believe me, but I saw some sort of shadow…thing," Fuse replied gravely, almost inaudible against the growing moan of the wind, "Some demon, maybe, 'cause it wasn't even real at first, and then it started tripping and tearing itself on trees and shit." Blue tilted his head, trying to think of what that could have meant. He had no doubt Fuse had been attacked. Only a creature bred of darkness could scare so bold a man. But what it had been, Blue could only guess.

"A demon?" Blue repeated, and his tone told Fuse he believed him, "What kind? Monstrous? Elemental?"

"Human-like," Fuse said quickly, and glanced behind himself for a second, "It had bat wings and horns, but it wasn't much bigger than me. Sure as hell was faster, and probably far stronger, too." Blue didn't doubt that, either. He glanced at Ildon, and the Mystic nodded knowingly. He knew only one man with bat wings.

"So Rouge was right," he said softly, and nodded when Blue added, "We can't let him know. It might destroy him." Fuse looked at them both. Now he was the one who was confused. But neither said anything more.

"You two mind telling me what you're talking about?" he prompted, when no one spoke again for a moment. Blue looked at him squarely. If Fuse learned that he might have just been assaulted by Ciato, he'd go back and kill the Mystic. And then Rouge would really lose it. As much as he didn't completely approve, Blue loved his brother and wouldn't risk his mental health like that. He tried to smile warmly.

"Nothing important, sir. You've risked a lot to get us the water," he said, and Fuse grunted an agreement, "Come on. The sha…" Blue was cut short when a hand suddenly grabbed his throat, knocking Fuse sideways. He was spun sharply, and came face to face with Ciato. Or rather, a Ciato possessed fully by an evil so strong, it made him want to collapse. The man's eyes were blood red, burning with hatred, and his face was hidden in shadow. But it was him; white hair, black armor, and bat winged as he was. And he was about to murder Blue right there.

A kick from Ildon ended the threat, and Ciato found himself spiraling as he crashed into the ground, ten feet from where he'd been. Blue staggered onto his knees, head reeling from the lack of oxygen for that agonizing minute. But he recovered, knowing the danger wasn't over. Ildon's sword was already in his hand, and he was already lunging by the time Blue was up, aiming directly for Ciato's back. But both Mystics were skilled, and Ciato rolled, one wing slamming into Ildon and dazing him. Blue took that moment to attack, using Ciato's movement against him as he pinned the wing to the ground. Ciato snarled, and kicked Blue in the stomach, sending the weakened human over twenty feet backwards. And then he was up, tearing his wing clean off before he realized the sword was still there.

"Long time no see, Ildon," he said, in a voice that strangely wasn't his, "What's wrong? You look scared." Ildon didn't care how true the statement was. To see Ciato standing there, before him, was something he could never have imagined, not when the world should have ended. Yet, there he was. And again, it wasn't truly him. It couldn't have been!

"What on earth happened to you!?" was the only question Ildon could ask him. Ciato didn't respond at first. Then, slowly, he grinned. It was a wicked look, one that had never crossed the man before. It was like being slapped across the face; Ildon could scarcely recognize that it was his old companion.

"You mean _what not of this earth_," Ciato corrected, and laughed, "Earth no longer exists, my friend. Everything we knew and loved… gone!"

"And it was your doing," Ildon reminded him bitterly, hatefully, "We aren't blind. It was you who destroyed the terminal, who destroyed the world, who… who…" The words caught in his throat, and Ildon shook as he fought back the tears. But his emotions were more powerful than his discipline, and he screamed, "_WHO MURDERED RASTABAN!_" And he charged, wanting Ciato to feel every ounce of hatred he felt.

"I'll admit, that one almost killed me," the white-haired Mystic replied sincerely, and Ildon froze, "He was the prince we all loved. Kind, and beautiful, and forgiving. Almost like…" He didn't speak again, and his face went from sadness, back to that overwhelming evil. Ildon didn't even know if that had been an act, meant to only halt his death.

"You could never love!" Ildon yelled furiously, and his eyes went red, "All you've ever done was hurt everyone! And now you expect me to believe Rastaban's death struck you? What a lie!"

"A lie?" Ciato repeated, and frowned, "Those are below me, Ildon." Ildon wasn't so sure what to believe. If what he said was true, why would Ciato do this? Why kill so many innocent people? What was the point of it?

Ildon decided to ask questions later. He yelled again, something incomprehensible, and came on with a flurry of jabs that forced Ciato to step back, almost to the edge of the cliff. They were facing the eastern slope; it was easily a one-thousand foot drop, and he wouldn't survive. Even if he rolled and went south, he would at best break his other wing. Ildon would either corner him, or kill him, and he wasn't sure which was most likely. He brought up his own sword and deflected the rest of the attack, but if anything, that angered the green-haired Mystic further. Their dance continued until he was sure the ground would crumble, and he'd go tumbling. At the last second, Ildon relented.

"Death is too easy for you, you traitor," Ildon spat venomously, "You deserve worse." Ciato knew that to be true, but damn be it to Ildon if he thought he could win. He knew _nothing_. Ciato's scowl returned.

"Do I?" he asked, "And what could possibly hurt me more than the thought of spending millennia in space, alone, with no one?" Ildon stopped, and stared at Ciato. They stared for a moment, and that moment turned to ten. That was what had caused this. Pain, one so strong that it pushed all reason out of Ciato's warped mind, and twisted his soul to this degree. But the result was even worse, Ildon thought. It made no sense, yet it made such perfect sense at the same time. Ciato had gone mad, just as Rouge said.

Before either could speak, could retort, could argue, a voice cut out from dozens of feet away, back toward the camp. It took Ildon an agonizing moment to realize that they hadn't been alone, and for Ciato, it took far shorter to recognize the voice. It had been Rouge, his voice cutting the silence like a sword through skin.

"What… _what happened!?_" came the frantic cry, and both Mystics turned to him. His skin was white as he looked at the obviously bloody battle. Blue lay before him, unconscious, bleeding from the mouth, and Fuse was further behind, his head cracked from the hard landing. Blue blood lay in a pool around Ciato's torn wing, and there were arcs in the sand where Ildon's sword met his skin, drawing thin lines of blue blood.

But what terrified Rouge the most was not the blood, or his brother's unconscious body. It was the Mystic before him, covered in blue and red blood, torn leather armor adorning him, with only one sagging wing. It was Ciato, no longer even really a Mystic. Rouge shook, unable to comprehend what had happened. Or how, or even why. All he could see was that Ciato was before them, and was corrupted beyond anything he had ever felt. He had been right. And he had never wanted to be wrong so badly until now. Ildon turned to Ciato, a grim look tempered only with the pity he felt for Rouge.

"That could," he answered, and kicked Ciato off the cliff. Ciato screamed as he fell, but that scream was soon muffled, and then came that sickening silence that Rouge did not want to hear. Ildon sheathed his sword and turned again. But what he had done did far more damage that he thought. Rouge's hands were clasped before his mouth, his eyes widened with horror. Ciato was there, and then he was gone. And Ildon knew it was his doing that had probably just ended Ciato's life.

The worst part was, Rouge had seen all of it. There was no protecting him now.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Fuse may have gotten the water needed to cleanse the shard, but time is not their ally. Ciato has returned, and with him the full fury of the abyss comes to end the team's lives. He intends to destroy the world, but for reasons that only he understands. To make matters worse, Ildon may have ended his life forever, thusly destroying any peace Rouge could have made. Why did Ciato want to stop them, and what was his plan for the shard? Did Ildon truly kill him, or will he return? What consequences will Ildon face for exposing Rouge, even unintentionally, to what Ciato has become? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	45. Dr Zozma: Psychologist Extraordinaire!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they think Ciato's outfit is just fine. I think he needs to wear leather.

Rouge didn't know how long he stood there, eyes glassy and frozen as he looked at the spot where Ciato had been but moments before. He didn't know what he was staring at, or what he had seen, or why what happened had happened. He didn't know what he should do or feel now. And he didn't know Ildon was running to him, trying to get the broken human back inside of the tent. He said nothing, even as the Mystic grabbed his arm and dragged him inside of the tent, sealing him from the outside. The light from the single candle on the makeshift table was blinding, but Rouge barely saw it. He only saw Ciato's broken expression before the man was thrown off the cliff. As the flap of the tent closed, shutting out that horrible field, tears ran down Rouge's cheeks. And he turned and fled into one of the makeshift rooms, sealing himself inside, away from the others.

The morning came slowly. Ildon had wanted to minimize the damage and see how Rouge was faring, but by five in the morning, he had to give up and get some rest. Rouge would not let him in, and he doubted staying up any later would change it. So, he went to get some restless sleep, to try and figure out what to do next. But nothing came, in neither dreams nor visions of any sort. All he could do was hope Rouge wasn't too destroyed by what he'd seen. It was possible he had seen worse before, but this was personal. Because Ildon understood that somewhere, Rouge cared for Ciato.

By eight in the morning, there was a knock on the magically-conjured door Ildon had set up. He was still groggy – he had barely gotten two hours of true sleep – but he fumbled and managed to find the door without hurting himself too badly. Though, in the next instance, it would not have mattered if he was hurt or not. As soon as the door was open, Ildon received a punch that nearly knocked his teeth out, and before he recovered, he felt someone grab his collar and slam him into the conjured wall behind him. He saw stars.

"What the hell did you do!?" Blue screamed furiously, and Ildon could tell he didn't want to give a wrong answer. Blue let go, throwing the Mystic back again, and Ildon saw his face was turning red with outrage. The Mystic spat on the ground; he spat blood.

"What are you talking about?" Ildon asked him, trying to keep his own anger out of his voice. Blue sneered mockingly. He was _pissed_.

"I hear my brother crying, and when I go to find out why, what does he tell me?" Blue replied hotly, hatefully, "That _you_ threw Ciato off the cliff! Why!? _WHY!?_ You told me you would protect him, that you would be gentle!" By now, he was screaming again, and Ildon was sure his head would explode from the decibel level. Blue was normally so calm. This must have been bad if he was willing to yell at a _Mystic_.

"I _tried!_" Ildon yelled back, finally losing his temper, "I tried to talk sense into that lunatic, and he would have murdered us all!" Blue knew Ildon was right, and for a moment, he had to relent. But goddess be damned, his poor brother! His breathing did not steady as he glared at the green-haired Mystic. Everything to try and draw Rouge out was gone. Was done for naught. And now, his brother had seen things he shouldn't have been exposed to. The lord of Hell was one thing; Ciato as a possessed demon with no heart was another.

Blue couldn't just kill Ildon, so he settled with a threat. He pointed accusingly at the Mystic's chest, his eyes hard with anger.

"You will fix this, or I will do worse than knock your teeth out," Blue growled, and Ildon knew the threat was true, "Help my brother, and _if_ you have a reason to beg for my help, I'll feign hearing it!" Then, before Ildon could respond in any way, Blue stormed out the door and slammed it, nearly cracking it. Ildon collapsed on the bed. Never in his life had he seen a human so outraged before. Not only was Rouge Blue's _twin_, they both shared a soul as well. _And_ they both saved each other from Hell. _And_ they had become a family again. And both of them were the most powerful magicians in the human race. Ildon knew he was screwed.

He didn't know how he could possibly fix a shattered mind, but Ildon knew hiding wouldn't help. He had to do something, to say _anything_, that would at least cool Blue's temper. Ten minutes later, he came out of his room. No one else was up yet, at least from what he saw, and he tiptoed to the main part of the tent. He was quickly corrected; Zozma was up and was eating a paste of mashed berries and chopped nuts. The red-head waved cheerily when he saw the grim-faced Mystic.

"Hey, buddy! What's up?" he asked through a mouthful of food. Ildon felt uncomfortable. How could he explain what had happened over a bowl of mush? He shrugged. Maybe speaking to someone else would help – provided that person didn't have too much of an opinion. But knowing Zozma, he'd have an opinion about the way Ildon sat down.

"Zozma, have you ever completely broken a person when you thought you were helping them?" Ildon asked as he slid onto a stool. Zozma chomped a few more bites of his breakfast before considering the question. To him, he did a lot of things when he thought he was helping people.

"You mean like break their nose when you're talking sense into them?" he rephrased, and nodded, "Yup. Ever wonder why Nusakan's nose is crooked? Blame it on a night of drinking and my fist." Ildon just stared for a moment. Not quite the answer he wanted right then. He shouldn't have expected differently.

"I mean like trying to protect someone, but they end up experiencing the thing you're protecting them from," the green-haired Mystic explained, and laid his elbow on the table, resting his chin in his upraised palm. Zozma let his spoon hang from his mouth as he pondered the question. That one, he couldn't answer. Mainly because he never truly protected anyone; the last time he tried, Asellus kicked him in the balls for it.

"Nah, but _I_ definitely got broken," the red-head mused, and swallowed his food, "Why? Did you break someone's nose or something?" Ildon's look went flat. So much for getting any actual help. He shook his head, wishing to hell Zozma would actually listen to him.

"Not exactly," he replied grimly, and decided to just let the beans spill, "Remember when Rouge spoke of Ciato being possessed?" Zozma nodded. He remembered it too well. He wasn't sure he believed it, either. Nor was he overly surprised when Ildon lowered his voice and whispered, "He was right." Zozma whistled, dropping the spoon into the makeshift bowl he carved from a rock. He studied Ildon for a moment, trying to understand where this story could go.

"What happened?" he asked, when Ildon didn't speak further. The younger Mystic sighed. With the lack of sleep and the punch to the face, it was hard to tell if it had just been a nightmare. Yet he knew damn well it wasn't.

"Officer Fuse went to find some water to help us cleanse the shard," Ildon began, and heard a barely audible 'oh god' from his companion, "He had been pursued by Ciato's shadow, and Ciato attacked us." He stopped there, and Zozma had the sense that there was far more than a simple attack that went on. He arched a brow, silently urging his friend on. But Ildon seemed frozen.

"And?" Zozma asked.

"Ciato was demonic. He was no longer Mystic," Ildon replied, and his voice shook, "He… the amount of evil in him… Zozma, it was too unreal. He started speaking about Rastaban… and I lost it. I told him I'd make him pay for what he'd done. And… I did." Still, that wasn't the whole story. Zozma's lips thinned. This was painful for the other Mystic, but he had to know what happened. He couldn't help if he didn't know. He put a hand on Ildon's shoulder, and was mildly surprised when he wasn't thrown off.

"What happened?" Zozma asked, with such sincerity that Ildon stared. There were tears in the normally-cynical Mystic's eyes.

"We had gotten into a swordfight… his blood was everywhere, and his wing had been ripped off. Rouge came out of the tent when Blue didn't return," Ildon continued after another moment, "The look on his face… he was paralyzed with terror. I told Ciato that was the pain I wanted him to feel… and I kicked him off the cliff." Zozma's eyes widened. Even for a Mystic, that was cruel. Necessary, but still cruel. Now he understood why the poor guy needed some advice.

Unfortunately, Zozma had never kicked anyone clear off a cliff. He never needed to, and being able to comfort someone who did such a necessary thing was something he couldn't do. How could he explain that Ildon had been right when it obviously hurt so many people? What advice could he even offer? He certainly wasn't sure, and he didn't want to make the situation worse. But a prince coming to another one for help was something he couldn't ignore. And if it had been Orlouge, he'd have done just about anything to help his lord.

Lips thinned, Zozma asked, "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know!" Ildon cried in exasperation, "And now… Blue attacked me because Rouge shut himself in. I have to do something, but damn it, I don't know what!" Zozma's brow arched. _Blue_ actually attacked someone, let alone a Mystic! He always felt Blue was the most level-headed, too. He almost chuckled, except it would've pissed Ildon off further.

"And now you've got Blue on your ass over it, too," he concluded, and Ildon nodded. For a few minutes, the two sat in silence, each one trying to think of what could be done. The easiest thing would be to speak with Rouge, but judging by what Ildon said, the young man wouldn't talk or even listen to them. Then, another thought came to Zozma. He looked at his friend and asked, "You want to know what I think?" Ildon stared back blankly. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. But he humored the man regardless.

"Gods help me, but I do," the frustrated Mystic replied, flopping his head onto the table. Zozma grinned a bit.

"I think we ought to go and see if Ciato's dead," he replied, and Ildon looked up, "If he isn't, then you technically didn't destroy Rouge's life yet." But for Ildon, that was a stupid thing to do. Besides, Ciato had lost his wings. He couldn't have _possibly_ survived such a drop. And if he had, it couldn't have been for long.

"You think he's _alive?_" Ildon asked him critically, and scoffed, "Zozma, he _fell off a cliff_." But the look on Zozma's face told the younger Mystic that the red-head didn't buy it. Even without wings, Ciato was still a Mystic. Mystics could survive most injuries that would kill normal men. Cliffs killed normal men. Zozma's grin became more profound.

"What do you have to lose?" he asked cryptically. Ildon had to admit he held a good point. There was nothing to lose, except for more teeth if he failed to do anything. But then he'd have to go and look for Ciato, and he wasn't ready to face the man just yet. He never would be. Not as long as the world they knew didn't exist. He shook his head violently. He _wanted_ to do something, but… but Rastaban's memory was too painful.

"No…" he whispered weakly, and Zozma was shocked to hear the pathetic tone in his friend's voice. Ildon shook visibly, and said it more forcefully, "No!" Tears stung his eyes, and Zozma knew the man was going to break. He grabbed his friend and hugged him, not knowing how else to let Ildon know he wasn't alone in this. Ildon let the tears fall. This couldn't have possibly gotten worse.

"I can't do it," Ildon said, and Zozma patted his head, "I can't go out there and face him."

"We don't even know if you need to," Zozma reminded him. But that did nothing to help Ildon. Suppose Ciato didn't survive. Seeing his dead corpse was just as bad, because then Ildon would need to face the fact that he killed his former lover. No matter which way he turned, Ildon knew he was screwed.

But knowing that Rouge was suffering far worse, and that Blue _would_ murder him if he didn't do something, gave Ildon the strength to try and think of something. And while he didn't want to look for Ciato, Zozma did give him an idea. Rouge only saw that Ciato fell, but Zozma had been right when he said they didn't know if the man was dead. Maybe all Rouge needed was hope. It was worth a shot; anything was better than the thought of Blue punching one's teeth out. And so, when he felt adequately depressed and slightly less likely to throw himself a pity party, Ildon trudged to where Rouge had shut himself in, with Zozma behind him.

Ildon had expected to hear sobbing and hysterics. He was surprised that he heard nothing. And when he knocked on the door, he was even more surprised when Rouge answered. Considering the horror he felt the previous night, and the fact that he'd been crying, Rouge looked all right. His eyes were red, no doubt, and there were creases where the tears had obviously fallen, but he wasn't shaking and he wasn't bedraggled. In fact, if it weren't for his red eyes, Ildon wouldn't have known he'd been upset at all. He regarded the two Mystics curiously.

"…yes?" he asked, his voice betraying the calm in his face. _That_ sounded broken. Ildon's skin paled. Would what he say just make things worse?

"Good morning, Rouge," Ildon tried to be cheerful, but it just felt so misplaced in the circumstances, "How are you feeling?" Rouge blinked slowly, as if the question didn't make sense to him. And that was because it didn't. He was _terrible_. It should have been obvious.

"I don't want to talk," the young mage said bluntly, and went to close his door. Zozma saw Ildon's resolve drop, and stopped the door with his fist. And that just ended up breaking the door, much to Rouge's dismay. He just wanted to crawl in bed, not deal with idiots like these two. Growling, Rouge said, "Leave me alone."

"Look, we got to talk," Zozma said seriously, and there was no mirth to gain from his voice. Rouge didn't normally take the red-headed Mystic so seriously, but he was in no joking mood. Rouge's anger fell.

"About what?" he asked quietly. He had a feeling he knew, but if Zozma was this mad, perhaps Ildon needed some level of compassion about what happened. He stepped aside to let the two in.

"About Ciato," Zozma replied simply, walking in with Ildon and sitting at the small stump of a table. Rouge soon joined them, and for a moment, the three sat in eerie silence. Then, slowly, Zozma asked, "What did you actually see last night, Rouge?" Rouge looked at him, and then shivered. The truth was, it felt like a nightmare rather than anything real. Yet he remembered it so vividly.

"I came out of the tent and saw both Blue and Fuse unconscious," Rouge said honestly, and swallowed, "I saw Ildon and Ciato by the cliff, yelling at each other. I saw the arcs and sprays of blood on the ground. And when I asked what happened, Ildon said something sternly to Ciato and kicked him off the edge."

"But did you see Ciato die?" Zozma asked, "Is that what's upsetting you the most?" Rouge froze, and shivered again. He didn't want to be angry with Ildon, and he didn't want to say that it was because he wanted to help Ciato, but Zozma hit the mark. The thought of the annoying Mystic being dead was just hard to bear. Especially when that annoying Mystic might have had a way to restore space.

"Yes, it upsets me," Rouge muttered, and then said, "How can't it? He wasn't evil."

"He killed everything we've known for thousands upon thousands of years! He's destroyed our world, and the realms we live in, and you're saying he's _good?_" Ildon asked, brows knit as he argued, "He was as demonic as it gets." Zozma gave him a warning glare, and Ildon knew he had better let his friend do the talking if this was going to work.

"But do you know if he's dead?" Zozma asked again, this time a bit more gently, "Did you see his body?" Rouge had to admit he hadn't. But how could Ciato have survived such a fall?

"No," Rouge said, looking away. Then, he turned and said, "But he…"

"You didn't see the body," Zozma repeated, cutting Rouge off, "That settles it, then. You didn't see the body, so Ciato may still be alive." Rouge's brow furrowed. He wanted to argue that there was no way a man, Mystic or not, could have survived. He wanted to argue that Ciato's body may have simply slipped off the precipice it landed on, and shattered to a thousand pieces. He wanted to argue. But Zozma had a point. He didn't see the body, and there was always a slim chance that the man may have survived.

He was left with a choice. Rouge could either keep dwelling and never know, or he could move on and help them find a way to fix whatever Ciato started. And as angry as Rouge was, the only way to fully understand was to keep going. His lips thinned. Being moral was tough, but his father taught both himself and his brother too well. He looked at both Mystics. Zozma seemed to think his plan was working. Ildon simply looked too flustered for words. If anything could be gotten, it'd be from the former of the two. So be it.

"So, what do we do from here?" Rouge asked the red-headed Mystic, in a sternness he thought only Blue could muster. So much for being the goofball twin. Zozma regarded him carefully for a minute. As ridiculous as he could be, Zozma actually had an idea for once. He grinned.

"Well, we got the shard, right?" he asked, and when Rouge nodded, he said, "Seems like you're ready, and I know I'm kind of dying for some damn answers. Go get your brother and that cop, and let's see if we can get this damn shard working. It's high time we get some stuff straight."

"Just like that?" Ildon asked him incredulously, "We jump from one tragedy and just go on and get ourselves killed." Zozma glanced at Ildon in mild bewilderment. Normally, the stoic man was good at leaving emotion behind and blundering through his duties at full speed. Zozma nodded.

"Yeah. Just like that," he replied distantly, and then turned back to Rouge, "Well, go on, buddy. We've got work to do, and you're the one to start it." Rouge hated orders. But he found himself out of his room and running to Blue before he knew it.

Zozma was a powerful prince. There was no doubt about it, and for a long time, Ildon wondered if there was a level of exaggeration to the rumors concerning Zozma de' El Anorou and his power over the Mystic realm, or the planes of magic in general. But when the group gathered outside by the old fire pit, and Zozma strode out with the shard and the pure water, Ildon saw that the rumors were just too true. There was an air of complete confidence in the man, an air of 'I know what I'm doing, and I'm doing it well' that only came out in times of peril in the man's life. It radiated throughout the circle, and even Orlouge acknowledged that one of his own held the _shard of time_. The group waited in eerie silence.

Zozma walked to the center of the old pit, and with a wave of his hand, cleared it of smoldering sticks and ash. Wind howled at his call, and the earth split to create a small hole, big enough for the water and the shard to fit. Zozma placed the shard in the dirt, an odd move by Blue's standards. Then, he took the mug of water and poured it over the hole. It was, relatively speaking, a small amount of water. But it came down like a roaring waterfall, reflecting the light blindingly upon everyone gathered. And it kept running, even after the contents of the mug should have been exhausted. When the last drop was gone, Zozma stepped back. Nothing spectacular happened for several minutes, and Blue partly wondered if the spell had been altered too much.

Then, the shard burst with light. It made even the bright sky seem dark and ominous, and made the sun dim like a black disk in a clouding sky. The light grew, and a noise of undistinguishable pitch sounded, just high enough off of their senses to be annoying, yet low enough to not harm them. As the light grew, so did the shard, stretching onward and around, growing by the second. As it grew, it began to ascend from the ground, spinning, revolving, throwing that powerful light around the vast surroundings. The mountains were a stark black as the light slammed them, and the forest to the south seemed to quiver in horror of such brilliance. It was as though the light were trying to dominate not just their attention, but the very world itself.

Then, the shard stopped. The light began to fade, though there was a pulse in the crystal's core. The air grew still. And for a long while, everyone waited. But nothing else happened. Rouge glanced around. It was as if time froze; no one appeared to breathe for fear that something would befall them.

"Did… did it work?" he whispered, though his voice cut across the field in a sharp ring. Zozma looked at him, and then pointed to what had once been the shard. Now, it cracked, and then burst into thousands of tiny, glittering pieces. In its place was that pulsing core, dark purple now that the shining case was gone. Rouge felt the sheer power of the core, and felt himself sicken.

"A… a vortex!?" Blue exclaimed in exasperation, eyes widening, "It really…"

"This should take us to the timeline's beginning, where Kylin is," Zozma said, and though his voice was firm, Fuse caught onto the keyword. And its meaning. He eyed the Mystic carefully.

"What do you mean 'it _should?_" he asked pointedly, and his brow arched, "There a problem?"

"There's always a chance that the portal could loop or twist and send us somewhere completely different," Zozma replied, eyes focused entirely on the swirling, dark mass, "Laws of physics are a constant no matter what world you're in. Same with the Esper laws and the laws of Magic. Anything that could happen, will, and there's always a random chance of error. We can't possibly predict everything, and neither came time or space." For Fuse, that didn't make too much sense. But Blue understood it perfectly, and so did Rouge. Considering that their actions had directly involved them, that was the most important factor. Considering Aubergine's existence, it was also the most dangerous.

"So even if physics dictates that we should be safe, something could go wrong no matter the success rate," Rouge said, and Zozma understood it wasn't a question, "Is it safe to use?" Zozma could have laughed. Nothing was safe with magic: your best chance was always surviving with minimal injury. But in terms of physical safety, the only chance of danger would be if they warped into a fire pit. Or a pit of metal spikes. Or even boric acid. But that was unlikely, even for Zozma.

"Safe? No. But it's the only option we have right now," the sly Mystic reminded them all, "Come on. We've worked this hard for the shard. We've just unlocked its power. Are we really going to just wait around until Ciato, or something worse, comes back and destroys it?" No one wanted a repeat of space collapsing on itself. Especially if Kylin was still trapped within it. Blue took a deep breath. To no one's surprise, he was the first to express his desire to continue.

"I'm in," he said firmly, "I'm a master on the scientific aspect of magic, and I'd see this through to the end." Rouge's answer was similar, and the other Mystics didn't need to speak for Zozma to know they were in agreement. The only one whose answer was iffy was Fuse. And that was only because he didn't entirely believe in magic. Everyone turned to him, and the cop arched a brow, leaning on a tree.

"What!?" he snapped, and smirked, "You think I'm giving this shit up? Unless we do something, there's no home for me to go to. And I liked my damn coffee maker too much to give it up. I'm in." The reason wasn't overly noble, but the fact that he was willing was enough. They all nodded, and then they turned to the portal.

It was like falling through a tunnel of absolutely nothing but cold air. When it was agreed that they were in for the long haul, they simply jumped straight into the swirling, purple mass. At first, it wasn't a problem. Space was literally nothing, so nothing could hurt them. Then, human nerves kicked in, and it was apparent that space was filled with nothing but cold air, as _nothing_ would heat it up. Rouge's initial resolve dissolved in two seconds. He did _not_ like the cold.

Yet he still saw that Blue was enduring it with all the strength in his body, and that gave the younger twin a level of comfort. Blue was always the one who hung on, even if it meant serious injury. And if he could, he hid the pain he did feel. Rouge could see in his clenched jaw that the cold wasn't pleasant for him, either, and so Rouge held on just as hard. It felt like the fall took an eternity – and considering that time did not exist, it very well may have! Yet eventually, Rouge felt himself slow, and then he felt himself land on something very gently, too gently considering how fast he'd been falling before. He blinked for several seconds; space had a tendency to disorient him, even if he simply read about it. Then, he looked around.

Nothing but darkness, stars, and the shattered remains of far-distant worlds, floating along on the scant winds that blew. From where he stood, those fragments looked like dust scattered in the air. A sickening feeling came over Rouge. One of those fragments could have been _their_ world. Or the Mystics' world, or even the Time Lord's world. He swallowed hard. They were nothing but particles, shells of what once was. Ciato had caused this level of destruction? Rouge could barely believe it. What had caused his mind to snap so violently? That was the only question that couldn't be answered.

"Everything's… it's really gone," he whispered in awe, and felt Blue's presence close to him. He looked over at his brother as Ildon and Zozma landed, with Fuse, Orlouge, and the Time Lord close behind. He said, "It's… unbelievable!"

"It's horrifying," Blue replied grimly, shaking his head, "Can we even try to fix this?"

"Sounds like we don't have a choice on trying or not," Zozma reminded him, and Blue turned, "Either we do it, or we wander through space forever. I choose _doing something_." So did Blue, and so did the others. But what that entailed, no one could actually say. Space was, well, _space_. It was very vast – infinite, in fact – and Kylin, and the destroyed terminal, could be anywhere. Just knowing where to start was a pain in the ass.

Surprisingly, it was Fuse who pushed them along. His intelligence was questionable, but as Kylin's adopted 'nephew,' he knew some things about the time-space continuum that even the Time Lord didn't know. For instance, he knew that black holes, if any existed, would take them immediately to the very beginning of the beginning – the exact place they had been before Ciato had destroyed the terminal. Black holes, he explained, were just portals that revolved too quickly for mortal bodies to handle, and they could warp you from one place to another. With no true world to get to, there was only one way to go: the beginning. And when Blue presented the problem of the portal's speed, Fuse said the Time Lord would be the one to slow down the portal.

"But magic no longer exists," the Time Lord reminded him quietly, gently, and Fuse looked at him squarely, "We can't tap into the planes that govern it. They don't exist yet."

"_Don't_ they?" Fuse asked him, in a tone that Blue had never heard, "Or do you just _think_ they don't?

"Blue, you were taught about the properties of magic for years," Fuse continued, and Blue nodded when he saw the knowing gleam in the older cop's eyes, "Didn't those bastards tell you that magic was like energy; couldn't be created artificially, or destroyed?" Blue blinked quickly. How the _hell_ did Fuse know that!?

Not knowing just what to say, Blue nodded and replied with, "It's one of the laws of physics, and the same basic principles apply." The mere thought that Fuse managed to know that blew everyone's minds away. Likewise, he just grinned. He had a plan.

"Right. One of them laws," he repeated quietly, and then spoke up, "Okay, so assuming we can't _create_ magic, where the hell does it come from if your little 'planes' don't exist?" At this, Blue went silent. Mainly because he didn't have an answer. No one did. It was never explained _anywhere_ just how magic came to be, and they doubted even the old Espers would remember. Not like they could ask, anyway.

For once, Fuse's logic got the better of all of them. They weren't quite sure how, but it finally happened. And without any way to disprove or dissolve his questions and observations, they had no choice but to go along with whatever crazy idea the cop had in his head. And they found that, if given the choice, they'd have refused to continue. His plan, or what he had of it, consisted of not only _talking_ about black holes, but actually _finding_ one. Blue was all for physics and fun. But when it came to actually having to _enter_ one of those vacuous, whirling death traps from hell, even he had a limit to how far he was willing to go for knowledge and magic.

"How does he even think we'd _find_ one, anyway?" Rouge asked, as they 'walked' along the invisible ground they seemed to land on, "If nothing exists yet, then there's literally no reason a black hole should." Blue _wanted_ to answer. But he was at a loss. Somehow, through some cruel twist that made the gods laugh, he had no idea what to do, and Fuse now had all of the answers. Fuse, who normally bumbled his way through everything he did with a grin, somehow understood how to travel through space, and how to do it _moderately well_. And it was Fuse who answered again.

"Wrong," Fuse said, glancing back as they continued in a completely random direction, "Black holes are formed when space collapses in on itself. Normally there has to be a huge amount of force to do this, like a planet blowing up, but it could happen spontaneously. Physically speaking, there's probably a .492 percent chance it could happen."

"So basically you're saying it's about as likely to happen as gold falling out of my ass," Zozma stated, and Fuse's grin widened. Blue should have known there was a catch to the cop's sudden seemingly endless knowledge on the concepts of physics.

"I never said we'd actually find one," the cop reminded them slyly, "I simply said 'we should go find one.' You all agreed." That even managed to annoy Zozma, despite him being the one who brought them to this place at all. His eyes narrowed.

"Not like we had a choice, now, did we?" he asked sarcastically. Fuse wisely chose not to respond. Besides, he had to focus on the road. Or rather, the lack of it. If they were going to find one of those black holes, he had to figure out where in the universe they were, and how to get to a place where a whirling mass of _nothing_ was the most likely place to happen. And despite the vastness of space, it was actually quite hard to get anywhere at all. One wrong turn and they'd literally wind up _anywhere in Oblivion_. Fuse had heard too many stories to want to go that route.

Though it _seemed_ contradicting to the normal mind, Fuse also knew that it was space's vast properties that made it easy to figure out where a black hole was likely to form. What he said was true – black holes occurred when space collapsed. And though the planets were broken apart, there were other sources that could collapse and give off the energy needed to sustain a black hole: the stars. Thankfully, whatever Ciato had done hadn't destroyed _everything_. And, if he could guess, Fuse had to say the first black holes were made with stars before anything else. And what he saw currently made him grin further. There were lots of stars around; millions upon billions of the little light-givers. He just had to figure out which one was the trigger…

Fuse's blaster had little power left. That's why he hadn't wanted to use it, even though he understood Ciato's shadow wouldn't have survived a shot from a plasma blaster. But now it was time to use up whatever Ol' Reliable had left in him. To Fuse, it was worth it, and not just because he'd be able to _personally_ create a solar flare. Not just because he was the son of an arsonist, and not just because he was a cop. It was because he'd be saving the worlds, their world. To a not-so-law-abiding preserver of justice like himself, that was the one thing he could only dream of doing. And, if he hit just the right star, that dream would finally be a reality. So, with the courage of a crusader and the grin of a complete moron, Fuse took aim at the closest star.

Ol' Reliable pulled through. From some act of the gods, the laser reached much farther than it physically should have, and was shot with far more force than should've been possible. The star crumbled instantly. And for a long moment, silence reigned as they all watched the agonizing death of the little light. The remains blew away, as if they had been magically slowed. Fuse blinked, lowering his weapon. He chose wrong; if there was going to be a chain reaction, it should have happened as soon as that blast hit the star. But nothing happened. And even worse, he had used the last of his weapon's power. He had chosen wrong. He had failed.

Then, all at once, the explosion occurred. It was so rapid, so powerful, so blindingly bright that it hurt all of them to see just a fraction of it. As soon as they heard the first boom, they all shut their eyes, trying pitifully to block out the frighteningly bright flames that soon erupted. It was like looking right at the sun; there was no way to stop it, and it burned like the fires of hell itself. But it did the trick. Damn it all, it actually worked. The flames widened and caught another star, and then another, and the explosions grew constantly. Tremors threatened to shatter what fragile frames still held the plane of mortality together. Then, as quickly as it began, it ended, too. It was one long moment of blinding judgment. One long moment where Fuse held his breath and crossed his fingers.

What was left was exactly what the cop was hoping for. The collapse had been enough, more than enough. A swirling vortex was left, created when the planes had been ripped open from Fuse's assault. All they could do was stare. Just like that, with one guess and one shot, Fuse actually managed to do the one thing that they thought he couldn't do. He actually managed to do the impossible. He created a black hole. He created _the first_ black hole. Blue couldn't believe it. Neither could Rouge. Just what did that mean for science and physics? And what would happen if knowledge of a man-made black hole ever was discovered? Blue and Rouge would never speak of it, once they returned home, and they knew Orlouge and the Time Lord would keep it silent, too. But what about Ildon and Zozma?

"He… he did it," Blue whispered to his brother, eyes glassy with wonder, "He actually created the black hole."

"This changes history, bro," Rouge reminded him grimly, and the twins looked at each other gravely, "What does it mean?" Blue couldn't be sure. Technically, it had never been said just how black holes began. Maybe Fuse really _was_ the one who started them. But then that meant that this was supposed to happen, and would continue happening even after they returned to their world. Blue shook his head. No! That couldn't be right!

The Time Lord dissolved whatever worry Blue had when he said, "It means we will need to fix this when Kylin gets the terminal up and running again." Blue looked up to see the older Mystic smiling. That settled it, then. The Time Lord would pretty much ensure that whatever mess Fuse made would be fixed. With one less worry, Blue looked back at the vortex.

All that was left was to just jump right in. Either they'd live to tell the tale, and save the universe from Ciato's madness, or their vital organs would be ripped to shreds and split all across the abyss. Blue just didn't know which scenario was more painful to think about. And maybe it was best to just not think. With his brother by his side, he jumped straight in. He knew the others were right behind him.

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

Fuse managed to do the impossible, and just created the first black hole ever. With the old cop's plan fully intact, and with Zozma no doubt regretting ever suggesting using the shard while Fuse was _conscious_, our heroes are one step closer to saving the world once and for all. But can they survive the whirling deathtrap that is the black hole? Is there anything to even return to, or was Fuse guessing just for the sake of adventure? And what _was_ the fate of Ciato? Is the mad Mystic still out there? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	46. Fuse: Cop by Day, Physicist by Night!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they're willing to give me the deed. Their exact reason was 'her story makes a far better game than we did.' I agree.

Blue had liked the idea of having a story to tell his coworkers back at IRPO, something that would've made him 'part of the gang.' But that was before he had jumped into the black hole, before he actually understood what his so-called story would've been. It was difficult to fully grasp just what he was going through, as he and Rouge dove deeper and deeper into the abyss. On the one hand, it was like going through a blender – they were spinning mercilessly, and Blue felt sick! On the other, however, nothing was happening to their bodies in any way. They weren't being pulled apart like string cheese, and their organs hadn't ruptured yet. But on the third hand, the one that was only possible in space, it was like diving underwater and not needing to worry about drowning. It was just… it was a nightmare to a scientific scholar like Blue. And to Rouge, it was even worse.

The only good thing was that time didn't exist. Neither twin could count how many seconds, minutes, even hours they spent in that tornado of nothing, spinning and flying in all directions, but never truly going anywhere at all. Rouge even forgot _how_ to count, after a few agonizingly long moments in that metaphoric blender. To him, that might've just been all right. The less he had to think, the more his brain could accept that they were doing the impossible. They were _surviving_ a black hole. Take _that_, assholes of science!

But the glamour of the impossible faded just as quickly – who could say how long that was? – as it began. Soon, it was like watching the same thing over and over in an endless loop. Nothing but darkness and stars, some dimming as others brightened, but always in a pattern that seemed similar to Rouge. It was like watching a horrible movie, with the theater being locked on the inside.

"Blue, are we dead yet?" Rouge finally asked, his tone suggesting he was absolutely bored with their descent. Blue glanced over, and realized he couldn't answer. Clearly, they were _alive_, but was that actually true, or just some sort of illusion created from their oxygen-deprived minds?

"I doubt it," Blue answered with a shrug, and thought it was best to leave it at that. But he forgot he was talking to Rouge. Rouge wasn't good when it came to _letting shit go_.

"I wish we were," Rouge commented offhandedly, and gestured toward the stars as they continued to spin in that unseen cyclone, "I mean, look at this. This is getting boring. Same stupid stars, same black space, same everything! Are we even going anywhere?" Again, Blue couldn't answer. He wasn't even sure if Rouge expected one.

"Because, if we were, I'd have thought we'd be there by now," Rouge continued distantly, as though he weren't trying to speak to anyone in particular, "Not like there's anywhere to really go, what with everything being destroyed and all, but you get it, right?" Blue blinked, and looked at his brother again. Maybe there was more damage done than the older mage originally thought. Rouge normally had more energy than this. Then again, that was _before_ Ciato screwed him into a three-thousand light-year grave. Hell, that was before Ciato did anything this horrible.

"Rouge, it was explained that we wouldn't know where we ended up," Blue reminded him gently, not wanting to be too harsh, "This could take some time." He knew any bad push would break Rouge again. It was just too soon. Rouge let out a sigh.

"I know, I know," he said, sounding a tad more like his old self, "I'm sorry, Blue. It's just… I don't know if I want to do this anymore. I mean, come on, not even I believe this stuff is happening." Blue understood. There was no glory for _this_ particular mission, and it might very well be their last. Why be modest? Chances were, after this, both twins would quit IRPO and just pay the rest of their debt with cash.

"We can't give up, Rouge. We have to get through," Blue told him, and everything seemed to quiet, just a little, as he spoke to his little brother, "Even if no one believes us, we both know what happened. Remember when we were little, and we said that it didn't matter what anyone said, as long as we had each other?" Rouge nodded and smiled. They'd said that so many times, it was like a promise more than a simple statement.

"Yeah, I do," he replied fondly.

"Well, think of this the same way. It doesn't matter if they say we're liars or lunatics, Rouge," Blue said to him, and more of Rouge's old vigor seemed to return with that memory, "Look, I know these past few days have been hell for you. But it'll be okay. You'll see." Rouge looked at his brother. Everything would be okay? For whom? How could Blue possibly say something so… so naïve!

"And who'll make this better, Blue?" Rouge asked him quietly, eyes watering a bit, "We've been orphans since we were seven. Now everyone we know and love is gone. Tell me, how can this be better?" Blue's lips thinned. He was getting awfully close to breaking Rouge. He had to be careful.

"Because we're going to bring them back," Blue said firmly, and there was something deep in his eyes that shocked Rouge, "_We're_ going to do it. But we can't unless we wait and see where this takes us." How did Blue know, and why was he so confident? Rouge asked him both questions, and Blue said, "Because we're both the most powerful magician in existence." And that was the end of it.

Rouge did what Blue told him, and waited patiently for the end of the tornado, for the black hole to spit them out. It took a very long time – how long was still unknown – but it finally happened and he felt glad for it. Or, he would have been, if the black hole had spat them out somewhere he could recognize. With 'recognize' being a relative term: anything with trees, grass, and _dirt_ would have qualified as something Rouge recognized.

But instead, they were dropped off in what looked like the exact same place they had been just five seconds before, albeit without the constant spinning. There was no sign of a sky, of sunlight, of anything that would indicate they'd gone anywhere at all. Truth to tell, Rouge didn't know if he should feel angry, afraid, or just disappointed. All three would have suited him. He looked around, and sighed as he felt his brother stand up beside him, with Fuse crash-landing close behind.

"…does it look like we've gone anywhere at all?" Rouge asked his brother flatly, barely listening as Zozma shrieked, landing hard onto what looked like nothing at all. Blue's lips thinned. It did look like nothing had happened, but he knew very well something had. It was simply that they were still in the only place that existed thus far: space. And if they were going to where the terminal had been, then there was nothing else _but_ that.

"_Kylin!_" Blue called, not knowing what else to do, but knowing he had no answer for Rouge. Unsurprisingly, he gained no response. He called again. Silence greeted him, along with Rouge's worried stare. _Had_ they ended up at the terminal? Blue looked back and said, "Fuse, tell me we're where you said we'd be." Fuse looked back, brow raised. He looked almost a little too amused.

"Hey, I don't remember promising we'd end up anywhere," Fuse reminded him, and Blue audibly cursed, "I just said _maybe_ it'd get us here. There's a difference." Inside his mind, Blue cursed a thousand curses, some of which were in very colorful and ancient languages. Now wasn't exactly the best time to be guessing between warp-holes and atomically unstable planes. Then again, this was Fuse. He wasn't exactly Physicist McGee.

"Thanks for the heads up," Rouge grumbled, and turned back to Blue, who was trying to find some way of seeing where they could've ended up. Maybe there was a new constellation or star he'd missed, or some asteroid he would recognize. But there wasn't; there was a chance constellations hadn't even been formed yet.

On the inside, Blue was worried now. Fuse's confidence made him believe that everything would be all right. He felt he should've known better, and now they were probably even deeper in space than they'd been before. And this time, they couldn't be sure they could create another black hole, should they need it. If they were going to get anywhere, they'd have to rely on instinct and some level of astrological knowledge. That meant that the Time Lord and Orlouge would be their best bets.

The only problem was that there was _nothing_ to help them. Even as Blue tried to identify something in that vast darkness, the stars began to wink out of life, and darkness settled in vividly. If he had any hopes of using that instinct, he'd have to act fast. He turned toward his left; he saw that Ildon had landed relatively safely, and he saw Zozma dizzily trying to gain his senses. But he couldn't see if either of the elder Mystics had recovered yet. Then he saw stirring even further behind, and a gleam of light reflected off of a metallic surface when one star blinked out. It was the Time Lord's pocket-watch.

Quickly, Blue called out and waved the Time Lord over. Curious, and growing fond of the human magician, the old mystic heeded him and strolled over, checking his watch once to see if it started again. It hadn't. When he reached the young mage, Blue asked him to see if _he_ could find any signs of where they had ended up. For an older creature like the Time Lord, it should've been an easy task. After all, he'd been at the Beginning many times before.

He had about as much luck as Blue had. As more and more stars continued to blink out, it became harder and harder to figure out where in space they had gone, or if they'd come any closer to finding Kylin. To a normal person, this was a wide-scale panic. But the Time Lord wasn't mortal, and he understood one vital clue to figuring this predicament out: it wasn't what he _could_ see that mattered. It was what was _happening_ that was important. The stars were dying out before their very eyes. And the reason for that was simple – in the beginning, the stars didn't exist. And though time didn't exist yet, either, it took just a little bit for the transitions to take place.

"Well, now, I do believe we're where we need to be," the Time Lord assured them, with a smile on his face, "Everything is vanishing simply because nothing exists yet. Not even the stars that light the night sky."

"Then where's the terminal?" Rouge asked incredulously, looking around. Blackness settled all around them as the last few stars ceased to be. The air felt both heavy and thin – heavy with the weight of nothingness, yet thin due to the lack of anything, and though the temperature was mild, Rouge felt a shiver run up his spine. Being here made him ill at ease.

"That, my friends, will be the tricky part," the Time Lord explained, and there was a general sigh of disappointment around the group, "I don't remember." Blue swore he heard something in the distance crack, and he felt the urge to strangle the old Mystic. It would've been nice to know this some twenty minutes ago, before they jumped into a void they couldn't escape from. But then again, Mystics delighted in tormenting humans. And sometimes that came in the form of complete forgetfulness at the most inconvenient times. And this time just happened to be conveniently inconvenient.

"You _don't remember!_" Zozma repeated hotly, and threw his arms up, "Don't give us that crap! Stop playing and tell us!" The Time Lord looked at him with amusement, a brow arched as he watched his inferior throw a hissy-fit.

"I wish I was playing, but I don't remember where the celestial terminal is. There is literally nothing here; you expect me to remember where _exactly_ one piece of equipment is?" he asked, and Zozma felt close to losing his mind. Now he understood completely why Ciato went ballistic. This was madness. And it certainly had nothing to do with Spartans.

"What a load of bullcrap," the red-headed Mystic grumbled, shaking his head. Then he stared at the Time Lord and asked, "Can you maybe give an approximation? A guesstimate, if you will?" He should've expected the answer to come out as it was: half-assed, just like him.

"By my _guess?_ Dear boy, that could lead us anywhere! Why, I could point in any of the billions of directions, and any one of them could be right!" Damn it all, logic won out over anything Zozma could've said. Technically, the Time Lord was right. But they had to think of something. Time was, ironically enough, running out.

"Oh, why get caught up in this useless mumbo-jumbo!" Fuse burst out, tapping his gun impatiently, "Let's just do what the Time Lord suggested and just _go!_ Hell, why not split up and make this damn trip easier!" Judging by the looks on everyone's faces regarding that idea, they didn't feel it was a good one to follow. Not to mention that the Time Lord didn't actually suggest it. He merely said he _could_ have. Sadly, Fuse didn't care.

"Let's _not_ do that," Rouge suggested, crossing his arms, "Isn't there something that could be done? We found the terminal once before."

"That was when Kylin was with us," Blue reminded him quietly, and Rouge frowned, "_He_ knew where the terminal was." Chances were, he was the only one who did. But Rouge didn't want to give up that easily. No one did. He turned to Fuse, a new thought coming into his head. Kylin adopted the older man as a surrogate nephew when Fuse managed to stumble into his realm. Kylin taught him the basics of physics and science. Kylin might have very well told him how to find the terminal, should something happen to the creature himself.

"Fuse, did he happen to tell you where to look if you ever needed the terminal?" Rouge asked, a shred of hope coloring his voice. Fuse perked a brow. He'd been Kylin's nephew for well over twenty years now, and he didn't remember if the old goat said anything about the terminal, or the beginning of the beginning.

"Not to my knowledge, boy, but that don't mean I can't take a crack at it," the old cop replied slyly. He didn't even care to notice that he was the only one who thought he could do it. In his mind, he was Fuse the Super Cop, and if he wanted something to happen, it damn well happened. And right then, he wanted the terminal to just _show up_.

Being Kylin's adopted kin had its perks. At first, no one – not even Fuse! – knew what those perks were. But exactly two-thirds of a second after Fuse wanted to find the terminal, there was another rumbling deep in the abyss. This time, it was much more forceful than anything the black hole had created. Whereas the black hole just _barely_ began to dent the fabrics of space, this new force _definitely_ cracked the frames between the planes. Blue felt everything around him shift and shatter, like a ripple in the pond that suddenly grew violent and turned into a horrible tidal wave that wiped out everything around it. Even though there was no wind, Blue shivered, crossing his arms and holding himself rigid against a cold that wasn't truly there. Rouge and Fuse acted similarly. The Mystics, however, merely stood, watching in what looked like frozen fear. Blue looked with them, just to see what scared them so.

The answer was one that terrified him, and made him wonder if Fuse was even human at all. Out of nowhere, and still forming before them, was the celestial terminal. Being out of the context of time, the outlines around it were burning far brighter than Blue remembered. Amidst the darkness, the light was blinding; even through shut eyes, Blue still saw the fiery aura. For several long heartbeats, the blaze around the terminal pulsed, each pulse sending shivers of raw power up everyone's spines. Then, slowly, with each passing pulse, that power faded until it was nothing more than a residual feeling. Slowly, Blue opened his eyes to look at the terminal.

It was as if nothing had happened. Everything, from the monitor to the keyboard, was intact and pristine. Lines of light around the terminal's transparent edges blinked in and out of existence, and Blue could make out the symbols on each button on the keyboard. Of course, he couldn't read them – they were in a language more ancient than the gods themselves. But he had a feeling he knew someone who could. He turned to Fuse, wondering just how much knowledge the old cop was hiding. Or more accurately, how much the old cop didn't even know he had. There was a chance Kylin taught him more than just modern physics.

"Fuse, can you read any of this?" Blue asked, and the cop in question walked over to see what he could do. He looked down at the keys for a moment, tapping his chin as he read them. Blue noticed that he looked unusually focused at that moment.

"I can read a few of them," Fuse began slowly, thoughtfully, "But not many. And they're not the kinds of keys you're expecting. You're expecting one key to represent one letter, but this language is a bit more complex. Some of these symbols represent whole phrases, and some mix words with letters and runes."

"What language is it?" Blue asked him firmly, and Fuse bit his lip. He wasn't sure, so Rouge suggested, "Esper? Vampyric? Yiddish?" Blue gave his brother a flat look. Fuse just shook his head. None of them were correct.

"I'm not sure, but it's not a language you'd know," Fuse explained grimly, eyes narrowing, "Kylin told me once, when I was twenty-two. But that was a long time ago, and I can't remember what he said. It might be Atlantian, for all I know." If it was, then that didn't surprise Blue. The idea of Atlantis was considered a myth, but such a civilization was known throughout the farthest reaches of Oblivion; in particular, its knowledge on machinery, philosophy, energy, and the concepts of time and space were the focus of many of Oblivion's most prestigious scholars. If this terminal was ever 'created' by 'something,' then Atlantis wouldn't have been far from the mark.

"So mermaids made this?" Zozma asked with an arched brow. Fuse's look went flat. When the hell had he mentioned _mermaids?_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Fuse asked the red-head in disbelief, as Blue shook his head in embarrassment and said, "We said _Atlantis_, not _Atlantica_. This isn't a Disney movie." Zozma pouted in disappointment, and Fuse continued to stare blankly. It was pretty obvious that the old cop wasn't interested in children's movies, though Blue had to admit, he didn't know anyone who was.

"What the hell is a Disney?" Fuse asked Blue, and Blue's face began to streak with… well, blue. He wished Zozma hadn't asked such a stupid question. He didn't want to go into the history of Walt Disney, all for one _tiny_ misunderstanding. Then again, the fact that he even knew such history worried him. And it worried everyone else, too. Blue found himself staring at Ildon, Zozma, and his own brother, and all three looked more than just a little spooked at his recognition. Rouge's brow rose expectantly.

"Blue, you _know_ about Disney?" he asked his brother, and Blue knew he was screwed. Rouge's tone clearly told him that his _dear, sweet, little brother_ knew he knew everything about Disney. And that he'd delight in dragging such information out as slowly as humanly possible. Blue's eye twitched. _Why_ did his mother have to introduce him to Sleeping Beauty!

"Well, _no_, but it's a common reference!" Blue exclaimed defensively, but Rouge didn't buy it. As far as both mages knew, _no one_ compared anything to Atlantica. No one except Disney fans. Rouge grinned.

"Really? I've never heard it before," he replied, "Tell me, _big brother_, what Disney movie did you watch recently? I hear they did a remix of Alice in Wonderland." Blue twitched again. If it was legal, he'd have punched Rouge in the face. It wasn't exactly his fault that Fuse didn't know a damn about Disney. He shrugged. They had more important matters than Disney movies. He'd just have to remind them all of that.

"They _did_. Before the world was destroyed," Blue stated, and Rouge's grin faded, "Now, if you want to make fun of me for my movie preferences, help me save the world first." Well, now, that just took the fun out of everything. But Blue did have a point. Now wasn't the time to be bantering over movies. Time was something they surely didn't have. Rouge nodded and took a look at the keyboard again. He had no better luck than Blue did.

"Okay, so what are we looking at?" he asked, trying to sound as though he'd been completely enthralled with the terminal from the start, "What've we got here?" Blue just watched his brother flatly. That act didn't work ten years ago, and it wouldn't start now.

"A terminal none of us can read, and the only thing that _might_ save our sorry asses," Ildon replied, sharing Blue's disbelief. Personally, he didn't give a crap what movies anyone except Rastaban watched; he just wanted to get home. And maybe murder Ciato if the son of a submariner somehow survived. That was a story for a different day. Rouge just hummed.

"And what language are we looking at here?" he asked. Blue just stared, mouth dropping open. Did his brother suffer amnesia, or was he just being an ass? Blue was betting on the latter; Rouge remembered _everything_. At least, everything that would annoy the shit out of Blue.

"We _don't know_," Blue reminded him in exasperation, "That's what we were discussing before you brought up Disney."

"Bro, _you_ brought up Disney and opened the window. I just jumped right through," Rouge countered, and Blue was sure he'd lose it. What did it matter! They had _work_ to do! He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter! The point is, we can't read the damn terminal!" Blue exclaimed, throwing his arms up in frustration. Rouge chuckled; it was always fun to fuck with Blue's head. But the older mage did have a point. They had work to do, and right now, there wasn't a whole lot of ways to go about it. If only one of them knew Atlantian!

"So, how did Ciato read it?" Zozma asked, snapping both brothers out of their ridiculous argument. Rouge opened his mouth to speak, and then promptly closed it. That was a damn good question, now that he thought about it. Truth was, he didn't think Ciato had. After all, it only took one good mistake to blow up the world, and that was one thing Ciato did well.

"You don't need to read to destroy a machine," Fuse pointed out seriously, and sighed, "It's pretty clear you boys have no idea what the hell you're doing. I did say I can read some of this shit. Let me take a crack at it." No one was particularly confident, but it wasn't like they had much other choice. Blue stepped aside, and Fuse pushed Rouge out of the way. He looked down at the keyboard.

He couldn't read much, but he knew enough to crack the first few defenses in the terminal. He pressed three buttons with symbols Blue did not understand, and the mage saw that those symbols made the phrase 'open the passage of time.' The terminal responded. It glowed brightly for a second, and there was a responding flash of light high in the black sky. That light trickled down, forming a line between the terminal and the flash up above. Additional lights – stars perhaps – began to wink back to life, but they were larger than Blue expected a star to be. He looked from the closest one, back to Fuse. The cop was perspiring as he tried to figure out the next defense phrase.

He cracked it in one shot. The phrase ended up being 'Let those who seek, find.' Fuse smiled when more stars winked to life, creating additional lines of light to one another. Rouge and Zozma watched with mesmerized interest; Fuse was actually putting the timeline back together again! Fuse returned his attention to the monitor. Now it needed two phrases to unlock the next tier. Fuse swallowed hard. It wasn't because he was worried he'd mess up, however. It was because he knew the next lines, and was afraid of what he might unleash.

That didn't matter, when he weighed the consequences of not inputting the phrases. He typed them in, and when he did, all four phrases lit up on the screen like a short poem. 'Open the passage of time, and let those who seek, find. Once the lines of light are crossed, all doors will be opened.' It flared, the words becoming so bright that they reflected off of the black floor, spelling the phrase on the ground as well. Everyone watched with awe. This was more than just magic. This was how the worlds began.

"Lines of light?" Rouge asked after a moment, and nothing further had happened. He looked from the words on the ground, to Fuse, "What does that mean?"

"Maybe we have to walk through those stars," Zozma guessed, brow raised as he looked at them. They were glowing so brightly that they no longer had a discernable shape. The lines connecting them were thicker, too, and they pulsed with a warmth that hadn't been there before.

"No. We wait now," Fuse told them grimly, eyes locked on the lines of light that connected the terminal to the farthest-reaching star. Zozma wanted to cut across the lines, but he knew doing so might seriously disrupt whatever it was Fuse just did.

The lines continued to thicken, and the energy began to crackle. Blue could feel the shocks running up and down his spine, and it made him feel hyper. He could only hope the lines would stop growing soon; he could see the ends of Rouge's hair beginning to stand up from the radiant energy, and saw sparks on Ildon's skin. Where the lines were thickest, there were actual bolts – tiny, but no doubt deadly to touch. Some were red and yellow; the weakest of energies. But ironically, the thinnest bolts were blue and white, which were the most powerful kinds of electricity Blue knew of. Those were the most numerous. Whatever Fuse was doing, he did it well.

"This is so wicked!" Zozma exclaimed, eyes glittering as he saw those bolts dancing up the lines. He reached out, laughing as the hair on his arm stuck straight up, quivering as he inched closer. Blue just shook his head; sometimes, Zozma was a real idiot. Fuse didn't even need to look to share the opinion.

"I wouldn't do that," Fuse warned flatly, still working on the keyboard, "You'll fry your brain." Zozma blinked, and quickly withdrew his hand. As much as he loved mischief, he liked his brain. Preferably, he liked it uncooked.

"How much longer?" Rouge asked, having to almost yell when the bolts began to make a loud humming sound. Fuse's eyes twitched a bit. The electricity of the terminal was growing way too strong, even for him. By his estimate, either they'd walk through one of the doors relatively soon, or they'd be dead before the spells ended.

They didn't die. The electricity continued to grow, to the point where it physically hurt just to be near the light. Then, quickly and quietly, it died down again. Everything settled. There were no more bolts, there was no crackling in the air, and the stars remained as they were: no more came to life, and no more died out. Rouge, who had closed his eyes moments before, slowly opened one. The light didn't blind him. In fact, what he looked upon was no longer terrifying rays of light spearing through the rips of space. What he saw was akin to a spider's web; a large, vast one comprised entirely of lights, with the stars acting as 'starting points' for each ray.

Zozma's initial curiosity came back tenfold, and he put his hand through one ray despite Fuse's warning. It did not sear him. In fact, it felt like nothing at all now. Even the warmth emitted seemed to have diffused as the spell simmered. The light merely came through, illuminating the Mystic's skin, as well as the bones underneath.

The spell itself was impressive, and Blue honestly never thought Fuse would be the one to pull such strong magic off. There was, with no doubt, much more to the cop than a person could see. But the spell aside, what truly impressed Blue was the fact that the spider web seemed to act as an additional portal. The terminal was no longer a terminal; the spell did far more than connect the dots, so to speak. It seemed to have shifted the terminal into a new shape. In particular, that shape was a set of closed double-doors. They were silver in color, with the edges and creases made entirely of pure gold. The handles sparkled, also made of pure gold. But they glowed dimly. And when Blue went to touch one handle, his hand slipped right through.

"What the hell!" Ildon exclaimed in shock, as Rouge watched and said, "A ghost door." Blue, however, wasn't nearly as surprised. He remembered the phrase clearly before the light completely erased it. They had opened the passage of time, and the lines of light crossed into a web of some sort. The door _had_ appeared… but what did they need to find now?

"We have one more part of the spell to complete," Blue said, turning to Fuse, "We need to find the last part. Any ideas what that could be?" Fuse, unfortunately, did _not_ know this part. He had never gone this far before, and quite frankly, the fact that he did was beginning to terrify him. He knew he was severely changing the fate of all of Oblivion.

"Can't possibly be anything physical, for one thing," the old cop growled irritably, "Nothing exists yet. So it's got to be something we want on the inside. Knowledge?"

"Knowledge of _what_?" Zozma asked pointedly, tapping his chin. As far as he was concerned, the door should've just _opened_. Then again, this branch of magic wasn't as simple as his own. Mystics, when they wanted something, made spells specifically to get that result as soon as inhumanly possible. And damn it, when they did it, they got it _done_. There was none of this riddling _bullshit_ to contend with.

"Opening the damn door's a good start," Ildon pointed out unhelpfully. He might as well have said nothing at all; Blue was already trying to figure out how to achieve that. But he just didn't get it. They had crossed the lines of light! What were they seeking? Was it the will to go on? Blue thought they all had enough of that for _three_ worlds. Then, the Time Lord came up with something. Something Blue wouldn't have considered.

"Perhaps the light must go through the door, as well," the old Mystic suggested, and turned to Orlouge, "Remember the realm of light in Luminous?" The former Charm Lord nodded, and judging by his expression, it wasn't the fondest memory he had.

"How on earth can I possibly forget? It blinded me for six hundred years," Orlouge replied grumpily, and then calmed himself as he said, "But how do we manipulate such a light?" The Time Lord grinned. Mirrors were the only way to do it. Ironically, they weren't invented yet. But he had something that was just as good – his own silver watch! He took it out and placed it directly onto one ray. The ray of light was thrown back on itself, becoming twice as vivid. The Time Lord's grin grew. He turned the watch slightly, and the light hit the door in the center. Yet… it did not open.

Blue understood now. The light didn't open the door, but it caused the door to solidify and reveal a tiny keyhole underneath the knob. They were looking for a key. And when the Time Lord shifted the light, pointing it _away_ from the door, the keyhole vanished and the door became transparent again. Blue understood it perfectly. The light was the key. It had to cross the lock to open the door.

Without warning, Blue grabbed the Time Lord's watch, earning a shriek of surprise from the flustered Mystic. But Blue didn't pay it any heed. He immediately reflected the light back onto the door, and when it lit up again, he maneuvered the light just so slightly; even the subtlest shake of the wrist could knock the light clear off the door. He hit the keyhole, and it sparkled for a second. Then, everything around them dimmed for a moment as the edges of the keyhole began to glow in every color recognized. The light shot out again, this time colliding with the large star far above them, and that star exploded in a rain of flaming sparks. Blue heard Rouge scream, and then he heard the door open, revealing even more light within. It was blinding. And it beckoned them to go through.

They came so far already. They weren't about to let terror and light stop them. Blue grabbed his brother's arm, and they leapt through the doorway. He felt several others – his friends! – follow him, and they fell for several minutes before landing on another hard surface. Like before, there was neither hot nor cold. But when he opened his eyes, he knew now where they were. It was almost a relief, and awfully convenient that the Time Lord had mentioned the place at all.

The Hall of Light was just as Blue had left it, when he took the trial in Luminous three years ago. But this time, there was no puzzle to solve. The light simply shot straight through, blowing a hole clear through the walls. As soon as the dizziness wore off, Blue ran toward the line of light, ducking through the hole and coming out the other side. Rouge watched in a dazed trance. Then, he realized his brother wasn't with him.

"Blue, where the hell are you going!" he called, as Zozma and Ildon crashed onto the floor, Fuse landing smack on top of them. Blue turned back and poked his head through the wall for just a minute. He was smiling.

"I'm following the light," he replied gently, "That's the only way out of here." And with that, he was gone again.

Rouge followed him quickly, not wanting either himself or Blue to get lost. Not that there were many places to go in the dungeon, but with what they just did, they couldn't be sure what awaited them around the next corner or within the next room. Blue had stopped in the final room after following that destructive ray for three minutes; the ray merely blasted through the walls, creating an easy route to follow for everyone behind it. At the end, as he expected the last time, was another set of double doors, also closed. Like the doors in space, these ones were transparent as well. The only difference was, the light that seared through did not open them. Nor did it reveal any keyhole.

Blue looked around for any clue to the next key as Rouge skidded to a stop behind him. This room, unlike the last one, was dark even with the line of light going through it. And, unlike last time, there were no mirrors anymore. Blue remembered that when he finally solved the puzzle, the crossing lights had literally shattered all of the mirrors in the dungeon. That meant that using light wasn't the answer now. But… damn it, what was! This was the dungeon of light! How could light _not_ be the answer!

Looking to his brother, Blue asked, "What do you make of it?" Rouge, unfortunately, was just as bewildered.

"Maybe we need to extinguish the light," Zozma suggested, and both brothers turned to him questioningly, "Think about it. Where does the light lead us? Into a dark room. Why?" That was a good question, but the answer was so obvious to Blue, that it made no sense.

"The room's dark because I _shattered_ the mirrors when I came through here," Blue reminded him. That's when Zozma's grin returned. It was the very one that said he knew this, and he knew there was an inconsistency with the story, too. It was one Blue had never considered before.

"And why would that happen to _you_ when so many others had passed the trial before?" the red-headed Mystic asked him, and Blue found that he couldn't possibly answer that. He couldn't say why, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know why. He didn't often like believing in fate, but that small detail was obviously part of it. And apparently a larger part than he'd have assumed.

"…so how do we get rid of the light?" Blue asked, knowing any answer he'd give would sound more like an excuse. Zozma's grin turned knowing; he didn't blame Blue for not bothering. He sighed dramatically, and looked down at the line. It blazed in the darkness, and truth to tell, it really hurt to look at. Destroying it, he decided, would be doing everyone else who came here a favor.

The problem was, there wasn't much to work with. Blue really did do some massive damage when he came here. And even though the dungeon should've probably been restored to what it had been _originally_, for some reason, it retained every ounce of destruction Blue had caused. Anything that could've been a mirror, a glass shield, a glass cube, or some sort of deterrent had been smashed apart. Even the smooth surfaces of the walls and floor had been chipped away, revealing only pools of darkness in their wake. In all honesty, it looked more like a raving lunatic had come here, swinging a massive battle-hammer. It didn't really look like Blue's handiwork at all. Except that, interestingly enough, there weren't piles of glass shards on the floor, waiting for them to step in. _That_ was Blue's style, even if massive destruction wasn't.

"Well, how did you destroy the light last time?" Zozma asked, and at Blue's incredulous stare, he pointedly added, "In particular, what happened to make you smash everything in sight?" Blue's eye twitched. That wasn't even his fault. The light had become so blindingly powerful that _everything_ had been blown apart. Including him! He had to be sent to Dr. Nusakan's assistants in Yorkland for _three weeks_ because of that. Besides, he hadn't actually _seen_ the light blow everything up. He had heard only because of the angry letter he got from Rouge, cursing him for taking the gift of light magic and '_destroying half of Luminous in the process_.' For that matter… Blue looked at Rouge.

"I'm not sure, since I would've been _unconscious_," Blue replied sardonically, and he saw Rouge's face drain of color, "How did it happen, _Rouge?_" Well, shit, that wasn't a question Rouge ever expected to come up. Mainly because he was sure that, when he did come to try the trial for himself, he promptly caved the place in – after he'd found Blue beat him to it, of course!

"I… might have gone ballistic and used Vermillion Sand on the place," Rouge admitted, and saw Blue visibly twitch. Double shit. Rouge backed away when Blue advanced and cried, "But I was mad! _I_ wanted light magic!" Like that excuse was ever going to work on Blue.

"So you just decided to throw a temper tantrum and destroy a historical landmark, possibly killing thousands of people, and destroying one branch of magic forever?" Blue asked him, halting his movement to emphasize how stupid that answer was, and how stupid the next one would likely be. Rouge stopped for a minute. Now that he thought about it, perhaps he overreacted a tiny bit.

"…yes," he replied, and Blue lost it. Rouge was always the baby in the family, but that didn't excuse him for being an idiot, too. Blue grabbed his brother by the collar, and before anyone could stop him, he hurled his twin right into the two doors.

"_YOU'RE GROUNDED!_" Blue yelled, not knowing why he'd say that or what he was actually trying to do. Right then, he just wanted to hit Rouge for both causing this, and making him look like a moron to Zozma.

But Rouge didn't crash into the doors. Instead, he flew right through them, screaming all the while. And as soon as he passed, his screams were cut off. Blue blinked for several moments, and then looked back at the others. All of them were similarly bamboozled. Such a high-velocity impact should've murdered Rouge, splattering his brains all across the chamber. But he didn't even appear to _hit_ the door in any way. Blue blinked again, and this time ran to the doors. It never occurred to him that transparency could work both ways. The doors weren't _real_. His hand went right through it, just as Rouge's body had. He was _such_ an _idiot!_ They had done exactly as the phrase said! The light led them right to the exit, and like an ass, he just tossed Rouge through it. And possibly into the jaws of any monster on the other side.

"_Shit!_" he hissed angrily, and then turned to Fuse, "I found the exit." Fuse just stared with amusement scribbled all over his face. That part, he knew, was obvious simply because Rouge _wasn't there_, and he _wasn't dead_.

"Oh, _did_ you now? Good for you," Fuse replied mockingly, and gathered everyone else, "All right, people. We got our answers, so now it's time to go and make sure Rouge ain't dead yet. Anyone too chicken to leap out had better go running now." That was just cruel, considering there was nowhere to even run to. Unsurprisingly, no one said boo to jumping through the doors. Blue swallowed hard, turning to them. As punishment for his idiocy, Fuse was definitely going to make him leap through first. Damn father figures…

He just had to hope whatever he'd thrown Rouge into didn't kill the young mage. Then, he shrugged. He'd find out in about three seconds. That was probably enough time to count his blessings. And however many curses he knew toward Ciato.

-(End Chapter)

Fuse's plan worked! With the terminal now activated, our heroes ventured through the dungeon of light. Or more, whatever Blue and Rouge left of it. After the truth about the dungeon's destruction, Blue took it upon himself to send Rouge _prematurely_ to another world, possibly even another time zone. But was it for better, or for far worse? Did Rouge really destroy the gift of light magic? Will Fuse be a good father figure? And where did Rouge end up? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	47. Two Brothers are Better than None

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they revoked my deed after I decided to give Fuse a girlfriend. Fuse needs love, too.

Blue had prayed that whatever he'd thrown Rouge into didn't kill his baby brother in any way. And when he himself went leaping through those doors into the unknown, he prayed doubly hard that nothing would kill _him_ as he went to look for Rouge. But when he finally landed – and it wasn't even a five-second journey! – he quickly realized there was no need to pray. Nothing waited to eat him on the other side, and there was no evil to be vanquished. There were no monsters, mobsters, criminals, or ne'er-do-wells. In fact, there didn't seem to be much of interest at all.

Blue wasn't sure what time period they'd gone to, but he knew it was their world; more specifically, their _series of worlds_, but at least it was a place he recognized. Sort of. It was a town he visited just once on his journey, three years ago, when he desperately needed teammates to help him achieve his goal and not be slaughtered by everything that wasn't a bunny rabbit. It was a town, but at that same time, it wasn't a town, either; there were buildings and establishments, like the pub or the general store… but there was also a lot of junk littering the streets, as well. Literal junk, like strips of metal, old sheets of aluminum, car parts, gears, basically anything mechanical that wasn't recycled by Trinity. 'Junk,' Blue decided, was a nice word to use. To him, there was nothing but piles of _shit_, _everywhere!_

"Where the hell did you send him!" Zozma asked, as he fell right through the portal, only to slam into a pile of said junk, "_OH SHIT!_ What just stabbed me!" Blue ignored him as he tried to remember just what this town was called. It seemed so familiar, yet it was so… unimportant at the same time.

"Junk… Junk…" Blue murmured, looking around for any clues to his whereabouts, or to Rouge's, "Junk… there's a city named Junk… but it's cleaner than this… Junk… Scraps of metal… Scrap… Scrap?" It hit him just where he was, "Scrap!" Zozma threw off a big piece of metal sliding as he listened. Then he shook his head, as much to clear it as to tell Blue he had no idea what was being said.

"What are you mumbling about?" the red-head asked, as he heard Ildon crash into another pile some few feet away. Blue turned to them both with a smile that told them he was obviously pleased with whatever was going on.

"I know where we are!" he exclaimed, almost excitedly, "We're in a town called Scrap! I've been here… good lord, our friends are here!" Zozma blinked. As far as he knew, it was really hard to get Blue excited about anything at all. He must've been hurting to see anyone from his own time zone.

Unfortunately, before Zozma could stop him, before the Mystic could so much as respond, Blue turned and ran right for the bar. Zozma's mouth dropped. Forget hurting; Blue was _absolutely desperate!_ Scrambling, Zozma threw every piece of garbage off of him and leapt onto the pathetic strip of dirt that constituted the road. But Blue was already near the doorway. God damn it all, how was he so fast!

"Blue, I wouldn't go in if I were you!" Zozma tried to call, but he saw Blue vanish in a swirl of dust emanating from the bar's front door, "Blue! They might not recognize you! _BLUE!_"

"That's the problem with humans," Ildon said, shaking his head as he watched, "They're too sentimental. Chances are, once we walk in there, we're going to have a nice, little mess to deal with." Normally, Zozma delighted in nice, little messes to deal with. But he just felt so damn old in that instance. Maybe it was because they'd been traveling through God-knew-where. He didn't know, and in that moment, he didn't care.

"Goody gumdrops," Zozma mumbled, rubbing his face, "Okay, should we both go in, or should one of us stay here in case the others decide to run off, too?" Ildon wasn't sure just how likely the others – save for Fuse – would just 'run off,' but he understood the point. One Mystic would be hard enough for the citizens of the town to swallow. Two would most likely scare the living shit out of all of them. He grinned.

"After you," he said. And for the first time in what felt like too long a time, Zozma grinned right back. It was the grin of an idiot who knew he might just be making the biggest mistake in his life. And it felt wonderful.

Blue walked into the bar, wondering who of his friends would be there at this time. But when he stepped in, the place was… different. He'd felt a sort of stagnation in the air when he'd been outside, but he had figured that was just the way of the city. Now he knew something was wrong. The bar, from what he remembered, was bright and cheerful compared to the rest of the dingy city. It was a dive, no doubt, serving nothing but alcohol and food that wasn't fit for a dog, but it had been almost refreshing to be there. And there had, at one time, been a brilliant band playing jazz music almost continuously.

Now, however, Blue didn't recognize the place, and if the doors hadn't been left wide open, he'd have thought it had been closed down and abandoned. The bar had always been a dark, gloomy place by its own right, but when Blue ran in, it was pitch black. And it smelled terrible, with scents that he couldn't even identify. It ranged from stale wine, to warm beer, to urine and, to his horror, vomit. Blue might not have been able to see, but he had the feeling his skin was green when the putrid smell finally assaulted him. The only thing that possibly made it worse was the fact that the air was heavy, humid, and warm. If anything lived here, at one time, it either died here, or it fled.

"Hello?" Blue called, moving slowly for fear he'd run into a table, or worse, a corpse. But there was no response; his voice was muffled by the heavy air. He glanced around, though he knew it was useless. He could see nothing in the dark.

"Rouge?" he called, a little more hopeful. But there was still no response, and now Blue wondered if maybe walking in there had been a mistake. His lips pursed and he took a tentative step forward. With nothing but stifling silence and darkness, he had to be careful. Any step could lead to…

Blue had no idea what happened the next instance. All he remembered was that his foot was slightly caught on the end of something, and then he felt himself flip in the air just once before he came crashing down, slamming his head hard against the cold, dirt floor. He wasn't sure if he felt blood run down his skull, but he did feel incredibly dizzy when he tried to get up, and he had a feeling his vision was just mildly blurred. He heard the sound of shoes tapping distantly, and wondered if maybe Rouge had heard. A minute later, the lights came on. And as Blue suspected, his vision was blurry.

"Who the hell's here!" came a female voice he recognized. He couldn't see anything beyond a blur, but he knew that voice. It was Mei-ling! But… what was Mei-ling doing in an abandoned bar?

"Mei-ling?" he called, "It's me! Blue!" Mei-ling, gun fully loaded and ready, looked down at the young mage. It took a long minute for his vision to clear, but when it did, and he looked up at her, he saw that clearly she did not recognize him. Her eyes narrowed, her face screwed up in an expression he couldn't quite read.

"Blue! I don't know anyone named Blue," she snapped, and turned, "Now get out of my bar. We're closed!" Blue blinked profusely, trying to make sense of what he was just told. Mei-ling did _not_ own this bar, from what he remembered. And she didn't appear to know him at all, despite being a more or less important part of his team. Just what in hell was going on?

"B-but… but what about Riki? Where's Lute?" he asked, hoping someone could clear this up for him. Mei-ling stopped, and turned toward him again. She didn't look any happier by the names. In fact, she looked even sourer than before.

"Who the hell are _they?_" she demanded, and then sighed and shook her head, "Look, I don't know what other bar you dragged your drunk ass out of, but we're _closed_. Take your psycho-babble and move on, little boy. I've got a shit ton of taxes to take care of before the Cabellero family comes." Blue's eye twitched. Considering that he didn't drink, and that _she_ looked as if she hadn't been sleeping for two months, he didn't like being accused of being inebriated. But he had a feeling things were no longer like he remembered. He could think of only one person to blame for that, too.

"Okay, look. I'm just looking for my friends," Blue said calmly, getting off of the dusty floor, "We were separated, and the front doors were open…"

"Of course they're _open_, you idiot. We can't afford locks in this hellhole," Mei-ling interrupted, and Blue's lips pursed in annoyance before he continued.

"….right. Anyway, I thought one of them might've run in here. I wasn't trying to break in, honest," he told her. It was somewhat truthful, anyway. He did come here looking for his friends. Given that explanation, Mei-ling seemed to have calmed down a little bit. She glanced around the dirty room. Stained chairs and cracked tables adorned the place, and there was a thick scent of smoke Blue only just noticed, now that he wasn't in pain. He resisted the urge to sneeze.

"Well, since you're not one of Cabellero's boys, I'll let you off," she said, distantly for a minute before her eyes snapped back to him, "But I haven't seen your friends. Hell, haven't had a customer for nearly three years now." With the filth and stench, Blue didn't need to ask why that was. He bid Mei-ling a farewell, and left the room as calmly as possible. He didn't really want to offend her by running away as fast as possible.

It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. Ildon and Zozma were coming in just as Blue was about to leave, and the three slammed right into each other. To Ildon, it was like walking into a sandbag. And to Blue, the resounding crack from smacking into the green-haired Mystic was about ten times louder than it humanly should've been. Blue fell down on his back, and could only stare up as Ildon looked down, Zozma next to him and grinning all the while. Ildon's brow rose as he studied the mage. Was he amused with Blue's uneasiness? Or was he just pissed off?

"How's the air down there, Blue?" Zozma joked, as Blue grumbled and pushed himself onto his feet. He had the distinct impression the two were _not_ here to see the surroundings. He had a feeling he was about to either be scolded or laughed at, and it was hard to say which one annoyed him more.

"What're you doing in here?" he asked sharply, rubbing a thick patch of dust off his arm. Ildon's amusement merely seemed to grow.

"We were going to ask you the same damn thing," he replied sarcastically.

"I'm going to ask you _all_ that question!" Mei-ling exclaimed hotly, "What are you idiots doing in my bar! I said we're not open!" All three of them turned to stare at the purple-haired woman, who looked ready to personally toss them all out on their asses if they didn't answer her within ten seconds. Zozma grinned; he felt he was the most qualified to answer her. And frankly, that terrified the other two.

"Look, sweetie, we don't care if you're open or not," he said to her sweetly, almost patronizingly, "We're trying to save our friend from making a fool of himself. Why don't you go and brew us some tea?" Mei-ling's eye twitched furiously, and she stormed up to Zozma. Then, she did something Ildon only wished he'd thought of for the past six centuries. She brought her knee up and smashed into Zozma. The red-headed idiot of a Mystic went down with a groan.

"You two have six seconds to get out or I'm doing the same to all of you!" she shrieked. Neither Blue nor Ildon felt the need to test her patience. They grabbed Zozma, and ran out of the bar like two bats right out of hell.

They didn't stop running until they were well outside, away from the bar, and about one mile south of said establishment. By then, Blue was panting furiously, and Ildon was exhausted from the effort needed to carry Zozma's semi-conscious form. But at least they were far away from Mei-ling; or rather, whatever version of her lived in this weird reality. When they finally crossed through two gates, one of which was broken, the other unguarded, they finally stopped, and Ildon slid Zozma off his back and onto a grungy mattress that had been lying on the ground. Then, he collapsed against the wall, wings shaking as he gasped for breath. Blue, for all he was worth, was doing only marginally better.

When he was feeling rested enough to get his bearing straight, Blue did Ildon the kindness of taking the scene in for them both. The town was full of junk – this much neither denied. But where they had run looked as if all of the garbage in the city had been doubled, then tripled, and then blown up by multiple bombs, letting all of the scraps and pieces pile up accordingly, with only a mildly pathetic attempt to clear a road for any person to try and get through. Aside from the piles of discarded papers, plastic bottles, cracked pottery, and various amounts of sheet metal and plaster, there were also scrap heaps full of car parts – some broken and some still new – and various discarded metallic weapons. If he didn't know this was place a trash pile to begin with, Blue would've thought he'd walked into a weapons factory. At least there wasn't too bad a smell.

"I… I think we're in the junkyard," Blue told his companion, though he felt distinctly that what he said was both an understatement, and redundant. The whole city was technically a junkyard. This just happened to make that city look… almost clean.

"Really? I never would've guessed," Ildon commented sarcastically, brow arching as he looked over at the young mage, "Now, why are we _here?_" Blue's glare told the Mystic that he was on thin ice. Technically, Ildon didn't have to follow Blue there. He simply did because he had nowhere else to go to.

"Did you really want to stay with Mei-ling?" Blue asked him, and Ildon could honestly say he did _not_. That was enough reason to run right into a dump. At least he knew that Mei-ling would never go there, no matter what reality it was.

"You know, I kind of did want to know what made that chick so crazy," Zozma stated casually, lifting his head up to look at his two friends, "I mean, yeah, she kicked me out of that shithole once, but she didn't _own_ it. What gives? Was the economy in Scrap that bad?"

"I don't think this is the world we think it is," Blue said grimly, and both Mystics stared at him incredulously. When they urged him on, he continued, "She is… _was_ a good friend of mine. But she didn't recognize me, nor did she recognize the friends she's normally with. Does that not strike you as odd?" To Ildon, it did. Then again, most humans struck him as being strange. And the feeling, he knew, was mutual. Zozma, of course, had a much more simplistic, human response.

"Alcohol _will_ do that to you, eventually," the red-haired Mystic said, and shook his head, "Why, on the last episode of Alkarl's Stream, Alkatratz got so drunk that he burned down Alkuna Matata's trailer and tried to sell the remains off on Lee-Bay." Blue's eyes went flat. That sentiment would have been nice, if it hadn't been based on their world's most dramatic sitcom. And by dramatic, Blue meant 'ridiculous.' He looked at Ildon, and then just shook his head. He knew better than to listen to the garbage dribbling out of Zozma's mouth.

"You're an idiot," he mumbled, and heard a chuckle close by. He turned, grabbing a broken bottle off of the ground. He was surprised to see that the sound came from the Time Lord, who was accompanied by Orlouge and Rouge. Fuse, however, was not with them.

"Both statements are quite true," the Time Lord said gently, his face set with an amused, and handsome expression, "We are in the correct era, but the wrong reality."

"Wrong reality?" Blue repeated, and Zozma arched a brow and asked, "You telling me there are _other realities_ we could fall into!" Blue could tell there were over a thousand ideas popping into the mischievous Mystic's head, but he was most intent on hearing the Time Lord's explanation. The older Mystic in question just smiled serenely. Considering that he controlled time itself, it stood to reason that he personally had nothing to fear from this revelation. Lucky, little bastard…

Dusting his coat and tapping his sword on the ground, the Time Lord said, "When space was ripped apart, Kylin and I literally had to patch it back together again. There is a chance we didn't quite knot the timeline the right way." Judging by the fact that Mei-ling tried to kill them, that chance was incredibly high. The only new question Blue had, aside from asking where Rouge was, was how many other realities the Time Lord managed to screw up. He had a feeling he'd be finding out soon enough. He could barely believe it!

"So is there a way to return to the right reality?" he asked, and the Time Lord's mouth went thin. That meant that if there was, he didn't know of it. He _did_ know he screwed up royally. At least that was better than nothing.

"Splicing things like time and space is delicate work," the older Mystic said as calmly as he could, but it was clear he was bordering on slight worry, "Ciato has managed to severely damage the frames that hold all of the planes together. I think we should be happy we still exist."

"Can we actually prove that?" Zozma asked, and everyone stopped and looked at him. For the second time, he looked serious about what he was saying. "No one remembers us. Can we actually prove we exist in this reality?" For once, the Time Lord looked just as stumped as Blue was.

Then it dawned on Blue why he might not be able to find Rouge. If there was truth to Zozma's words, then Rouge didn't exist, either. Going even further, it stood to reason that the ceremony which split Aubergine up into two people had never been performed. It was never said which brother was the actual master, though Blue had always been curious about it himself. But if the experiment didn't happen in this reality, and Rouge wasn't the original child…

"Where is my brother!" Blue furiously turned on the Time Lord, with a viciousness that he didn't know he had in himself. It was clear the anger scared the Mystic, as well. He nearly stumbled backing away.

"I… I assumed Rouge was with you," he answered nervously, and now seemed to understand Blue's sudden fury. But Blue was far faster than the Time Lord. He reached out and grabbed the Time Lord's ascot, dragging the man close to his face.

"He _wasn't_," Blue growled, and then pushed the lord away, "_Where is my brother!_"

"I-it… Blue, you need to settle down," the Time Lord insisted, and it was clear he had never dealt with such fury in his immortal life. Blue's eyes seemed to start turning red, and even Zozma began to realize that they were about to lose the mind of their best thinker.

"_WHERE IS ROUGE!_" Blue finally yelled, and both Fuse and Ildon rushed over to restrain the frantic mage. The Time Lord took a shuddering breath. The answer, he knew, would possibly end both brothers' lives, as well as his own.

"There is a chance that in this reality, he has either died or simply does not exist," the Time Lord replied softly, and Blue's shoulders slumped in defeat, "Or it may be that you did not meet him in this reality, that neither of you know of each other's existence." Blue knew the second answer was just a pile of bullshit. To hell that he didn't 'know' Rouge. He remembered his brother well enough. He just didn't ever think they'd be separated like _this_.

"Are you telling me… my own brother is dead?" Blue whispered, and the Time Lord took another deep breath. Then, he nodded. And Blue collapsed. Dead! Rouge was _dead_. It couldn't be. It just couldn't possibly be true!

"I'm so sorry, Blue," he heard the Time Lord say, but it sounded so distant, almost watery amidst his blurring mind, "We knew there were consequences with what we had to do, but we never thought it'd be like this."

"Consequences?" Blue snorted, and then glared up, "_YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!_" His fury tripled and he nearly slipped from Fuse's grasp, but his collapse sapped most of his strength. Fuse held him back, at least physically. Hatefully, Blue screamed, "Why aren't you arresting him! He murdered Rouge!"

"Son, he didn't do a damn to your brother and you know it!" Fuse yelled back, and succeeded in throwing Blue onto the ground, stunning the magician, "Now _sit_. I know you're pissed off, but slaughtering our team ain't going to make anything better." Blue knew this was the truth, but damn it all, Rouge was gone! He wanted to get angry… but in the end, he ended up just burying his face in his hands and crying. Fuse turned toward the Mystics and said, "Tell me this shit can be fixed."

"Realities are not like the fabrics of time," the Time Lord explained slowly, "In fact, they rest almost directly between time and space. It's out of both mine and Kylin's hands now." Now it was Fuse's turn to get upset. That was an awfully convenient excuse for all involved, but he wasn't going to buy it. He just lost Rouge, and now he was going to lose Blue, too. No way in hell he'd lose both his surrogates in one day, not without kicking and shooting all the while.

"Don't you dare give me that piece of bullshit," he growled, his own glare hardening to rival Blue's, "You two made this mess, you better do what you can to clean it up! Now, how the hell did you screw up our reality!" He barely noticed how his tone made this seem like an interrogation. In fact, he already planned to make it that way. The Time Lord's face went grim, his lips even thinner. He suddenly looked very old.

"Like I said, when you're patching up the entirety of time itself, things like this can happen," the older Mystic repeated, and then added, "Think of this as patching a quilt. You take the wrong piece of material without knowing it, and the whole thing will be different when you're done. We didn't even realize we had grabbed the wrong reality until after the fact. And if we try to do it again, there's a chance we'll fracture time even worse than it is now." Put that way, it was little wonder nothing had been said until now. But why did he feel the need to wait so long? It was pretty important for someone to know if their brother was dead, or would be when they walked through a door.

"So I should just accept Rouge is dead, and that's it," Blue concluded bitterly, and it was pointed when he didn't even look at the Time Lord. The latter could only look down; he had much sympathy for the man he was destroying, but there was absolutely nothing to be done. Their only hope was to find Kylin, and he too might not exist now.

"What else do you want me to say?" the Time Lord asked him, and Blue stood up so quickly that the Mystic was worried he might truly be strangled this time. But Blue merely stood – there was no reaching out this time.

"I want you to tell me you can get my brother back!" the young mage cried, and his tone was bordering on complete panic, "Why didn't you even warn me! Why didn't you tell us this could happen!"

"We did not know the repercussions until…"

"Like hell you didn't!" Blue snapped furiously, and the Time Lord fell silent, "You knew exactly what you were doing, just like Ciato knew what _he_ was doing. You just didn't have the balls to tell us we didn't have a home to return to. You just couldn't find the courage!"

"Blue!" Fuse exclaimed as Ildon growled, "Shut your damn mouth, you idiot." Blue snarled at them both like a rabid animal, but there was a voice in him that told him they were right. It wasn't unlike Rouge's voice. Did he exist… somewhere?

Blue forced himself to sit down, and when he did, Fuse looked him over very carefully before turning back to the Time Lord, who had paled considerably during the conversation. Maybe it was the raw emotion Blue was showing, or maybe there were other ill effects to what he'd done, but it was clear the Mystic was aging a bit. Fuse almost felt bad for the man. But he had questions that needed answers, and one mage that had to be accounted for. For all the talk of memory splicing and patching, the Time Lord did not specifically say 'Rouge is dead.' He merely said 'Rouge might be dead.' And though Fuse believed it to be true, he learned that in criminal investigation, _might be_ meant nothing at all. Only hard facts won the war against death.

Taking a deep breath, Fuse slowly advanced toward the Time Lord, who was supported by Orlouge. He didn't mean to intimidate the Mystic, but he knew he was scaring the lord. Hell, he was probably scaring Orlouge as well. The closer he got, the weaker they both began to look. Was it a ruse? Or was this truly tugging on the Time Lord's heartstrings?

"Are you going to arrest him for this?" Orlouge asked softly, and Fuse shook his head. Honestly, there wasn't much point. What had been done wasn't murder. And even if it was, the most he could do was charge the Mystic with manslaughter.

"No, but I do want some answers," the cop replied just as gently, and both Mystics looked relieved. At least _he_ didn't blame them. Smiling uncomfortably, Fuse said, "First, I need to know what happened. There was probably a little bit of time before you managed to find Blue and Rouge. What happened before then?" Now, the Time Lord smiled, too. That was probably the best question to ask, and the one he was willing to answer the most.

"That was when we actually had to fix time," he began, "We had to work quickly so that none of you were lost in the Endless Abyss."

"Endless Abyss?" Zozma asked skeptically, though his tone also indicated a deep interest. The Time Lord nodded slowly, sitting down on the dirt. He did not seem to mind that it stained his robe.

"The Espers, one of the oldest races in existence, sometimes name places of extreme importance to them. One of those places was the Endless Abyss – they called it 'Ewigen Abgrund' – which is a place where lost souls go when no other plane will hold them," he replied thoughtfully, "It was what was there before Oblivion was even formed. And maybe it still exists, drifting just below the surface of our universe." So there _was_ something before the beginning of time. Fuse found that pretty interesting, and if he currently wasn't trying to find Rouge and save Blue's sanity, he'd have tried getting there himself. He nodded and wrote that on the pad he kept with him.

"Okay, the Endless Abyss," Fuse repeated, and looked up from his pad, to the Mystic he was speaking to, "What happens when you get there? Is it another plane entirely?"

"No one knows what it is," the Time Lord informed him, and it felt as if a crackle of thunder shuddered through the cop, "It is literally nothing. Like space, but there is _nowhere_ to go to or return from. Once you are there, you are gone forever." Fuse had a suspicious feeling that he knew where Rouge might be, if anywhere. Rouge technically should exist, but no longer did – and he wasn't dead. But he did not say a word to Blue. He simply wrote down what he was told.

"What do you need to do to get there, first off?" Fuse asked, and was glad when he saw that Ildon was catching onto his question, "Does your soul need to be split apart, or do you simply not exist even if you're alive?" The Time Lord gave him a knowing grin. He was catching onto something important.

"Yes," came the serene reply, "You see, there is a difference between a soul that is dead and one that simply no longer exists. Dead souls have no energy to them anymore, and they simply vanish. But souls that are forced out of one's body have incredible amounts of life left. Well, did you ever wonder why we cannot see them?"

"Because the Endless Abyss mirrors Oblivion, but with nothing in it," Blue said emptily, and the others turned to him. They all had thought he'd be down for the count after what had happened, but he _had_ been listening after all. Fuse didn't know if that was good or not.

"Exactly. There are no people, and there is no color or sound. Just a grey, bleak world with nothing in it," the Time Lord agreed. Which wasn't _exactly_ the truth – there were still buildings and landmarks in the Endless Abyss. But that was all.

Blue wondered what that had to do with anything at all. To him, it barely answered Fuse's questions of _what happened before they had met up._ But then, as the Time Lord actually did explain, he thought about what had been said. Souls that no longer existed… a world that was empty of all life… he wondered if there was indeed a correlation to what happened to Rouge. Rouge wasn't exactly _dead_. He just didn't exist. And it hit Blue now why Fuse had changed the direction of the questioning. Because Rouge _was not dead_. He had fallen into the Endless Abyss. And it was Blue who had thrown him there.

"…and that's why I had to come back," the Time Lord finished, as Blue realized this thought, "We knew what we'd done shifted reality badly, but I had to know if Blue and Rouge were truly all right." Blue was barely listening at that point, but those words rang out like a church bell. The Time Lord knew something was wrong, after all.

"Why?" Fuse asked him. Blue knew why instinctively. The Magic Kingdom hadn't groomed him for nothing. There weren't many figures in the history of Oblivion that were crucial to its unstable timeline, but he knew one of them. It was Aubergine.

"Because we did not want to kill off the most powerful magician in existence," the Time Lord confirmed, and he said it bitterly, almost as if he blamed himself for this. Well, he screwed that up royally. Rouge was gone. But then, what did that mean for Blue? Was _he_ Aubergine now? Blue looked down at his robes. Still blue and gold, and his hair was still blonde, not purple. He was still him. He just no longer had a twin.

"Rouge is in this abyss, isn't he?" Blue asked suddenly, and the Time Lord stared down at him, "That's why I'm not dead, and that's why no one remembers me, isn't it?"

"No one remembers _any_ of us, dude," Zozma pointed out, but Blue shook his head. This was different for him. So far, all they had was Mei-ling for an example. She had only met Zozma once, and Ildon never at all. And she _did not_ remember Blue at all, despite being one of his closest friends.

"Rouge was the original magician, wasn't he? I'm the byproduct of that experiment, aren't I?" Blue asked the Time Lord, "Without Rouge, I'm as non-existent as he is. But he's not dead, is he? Tell me the truth." The Time Lord looked at him with a mixture of pity and of sadness. He had said the truth for himself. And by that look, Blue found he was hurt. He really only lived because Rouge wanted him to. Rouge could've ended his existence all too easily, and he nearly ended it himself when he killed Rouge. It was Rouge's will that let Blue live through it at all.

"Rouge loves you regardless of what you are," the Time Lord told him, and Blue looked down, tears threatening to spill out of him, "It is true, you do not exist without him. But the very same is said of him, too. He no longer exists without _you_.

"You see, Blue, when they performed that experiment, those foolish people were trying to be gods," the Time Lord continued gently, "Trying to _manufacture_ a powerful _avatar_ instead of waiting for one to come into existence." Blue blinked. Put that way, now he understood the regret in their voices when he returned to save his homeland. They all knew exactly what they'd done.

"An… an avatar?" Blue could only ask, "Us?"

"Rouge was born with amazing potential, more than any child born into the kingdom," the Time Lord told him, "Only some worlds give birth to an avatar. The Magic Kingdom wanted to birth our avatar." And they had used Rouge, and in effect Blue, to do it. When he saw the look of anger on Blue's face, the Time Lord grinned and said, "They never once thought you two would ever develop a bond. They were sure one would absorb the other."

"In the end, Rouge screwed their plot over," Blue concluded, and was rewarded with a nod, "Rouge couldn't kill me. I am his brother, as much as I could ever consider myself now. And when I won, I revived him because I _am_ him." The Time Lord's grin softened a bit, and he looked sympathetic again. That was almost true. But Blue, by being separated from Rouge, had developed his own personality and his own judgments about the world. His memories were different from his twin. _He_ was different from his twin. That made all the difference in the experiment, and that was what made Aubergine an avatar. Two sides of a coin.

"Because you both saw each other as family instead of rivals, you both became powerful _together_," the Time Lord explained to him, "That is why he exists only when you both combine your energy. You both lived – it was the only way." Now he saw why the Time Lord had to come back. If Aubergine was comprised of all the magic he and Rouge both learned, then that meant he was on par with the gods, even Esper gods. And if he were to disappear… Hell would break loose, and not just the one he'd sealed up.

"How do we get into this abyss?" Blue asked forcefully, and the Time Lord fell silent. There _was_ no way to do it, of course. When one died unnaturally, they simply went there. There were no gates to go in. Or… were there? _He_ didn't know of one, but that didn't mean no one else would. There were other avatars besides Aubergine, and one of them was an Esper herself. And _she_ had been alive before Oblivion was _Oblivion_.

"There is one person who may know a way in," the lord explained thoughtfully, "Another avatar, an Esper." Blue stared for a long moment. Espers were almost non-existent; how could he believe one was alive, and would even help them? When he asked that, the Time Lord merely said, "She will help us." Blue wanted a more convincing reason than that, but he knew he wouldn't get one.

Looking to Fuse, he said, "What do you think?" Fuse perked a brow, as if saying he were surprised he was even being asked. The answer was obvious.

"Ain't no reason not to trust an Esper's word for it," the cop told him simply, and then added, "Assuming she's real." Blue didn't think the Time Lord would lie. He knew this Esper of theirs was real. It was knowing if she'd actually get his brother back that really made him wonder. If it weren't their only option into getting into the abyss, Blue would've asked for a better one. He turned back to the Mystics.

"How do we find her?" he asked. This time, the Time Lord wasn't smiling. Zozma was. Blue watched him suspiciously. Did that mean _he_ knew this Esper, and the Time Lord only _heard_ of her? Somehow, that didn't seem right at all.

"We'll need access to her world before we can talk to her," the red-headed Mystic said, and his grin was more profound, "See, Espers are few, and any subspecies of theirs live in only a few worlds. So, anyone got any ideas?" So much for an easy journey. Blue's lips thinned, and he was torn between wanting to punch Zozma, or wanting to throw himself clear off a cliff. This was just a nightmare, and this _Esper_ sounded like more trouble than reward. But he had to remember that Rouge needed this chance.

"We could try Devin," Fuse said, and when they all looked back at him – and they obviously felt he was being a moron – he said, "Remember the rocket we found that took us to space?"

"You mean the piece of shit that started this little train wreck of ours?" Zozma corrected, and gave the thumbs up, "Yeah, we all remember, copper. What about it?"

"I was going to say we could take that and try to get into her world with it," Fuse suggested. It was clear no one wanted to try that. For a multitude of reasons, as well. For one, _none_ of them piloted the first rocket well. And for second, they had already _used_ the rocket. It was currently crashed out on a meteorite, and broken beyond repair.

"Didn't we crash that pile of crap?" Ildon pointed out, and Zozma was more than willing to side with him. But they didn't account for the fact that they were arguing with _Fuse_, and Fuse did not give up, even when judgment told him to do otherwise. Fuse crossed his arms and turned around with a childish huff.

"I don't see _you_ assholes coming up with anything," he spat sarcastically, "Besides, we saw plenty of worlds in space. She _might_ be on one of them." That was another reason Blue didn't want to bother. There was a chance they'd miscalculate, and end up in the wrong world. And he didn't want to go on another wild goose-chase. Not when his brother was running out of time.

Luckily, conveniently luckily, he didn't need to make that choice. Right as Fuse spoke, a portal had formed behind him. It rippled at first, and Blue wasn't sure it wasn't the heat coming off of the concrete under them. Then, it began to grow black, with tendrils of purple energy spiraling inside of it. He knew that sign. Someone was tapping into the void itself to travel to them. And he knew it was _toward them_ simply because there was no other reason for anyone to head to Scrap. That, and it _was_ awfully convenient. When they saw Blue's expression, everyone else turned toward that portal as well.

Aeon stepped through the portal. At least, Blue _thought_ it was Aeon – except that this time, he looked like he'd been roughed up quite a bit. His hair was messier and streaked with dirt, and his monocle was cracked. His ascot was torn up and his tailcoat was unbuttoned. A bruise was on his left cheek. Last time Blue saw him, he was the picture of nobility. Now, he looked like a noble who'd been tossed clear on his ass.

"What the hell happened to _you?_" Zozma asked, and saw clearly that Aeon was no happier to see them, either. His glare was painfully apparent.

"Someone spliced up time, and now whole eras are disappearing before our very eyes!" Aeon all but shouted, and was looking directly at the Time Lord as he spoke, "Worlds are falling apart, _Time Lord_, and do you wish to know _why!_" His tone said he knew exactly what had happened, and that he did not approve in any way. But for all of his anger, the Time Lord remained calm.

"I understand we made mistakes, Aeon," he replied firmly, "That is why we're trying to fix it."

"You had better, or we're going to have one bloody mess to clean up," Aeon growled, and he didn't sound like his normally formal and cordial self, "I barely got my _friend_ out before she was swallowed whole. You know what will happen should she _die_, right? You remember, don't you?"

"I remember this, Aeon. I know what she is," the Time Lord sighed. Then he turned away and shook his head. It was clear he _hadn't_ known the true extent of the damage done. Whoever they were speaking of, she was both important and in trouble. Blue had a feeling immediately she was also exactly who they were looking for.

"Who is she?" he asked, and by the flinch Aeon gave, he hit the mark. The Time Lord gave him a sly smirk. It looked unusual on his serene face. Almost sinister. And judging by Aeon's expression, it was clear he had no intention of letting anyone see her. Not like that mattered, because if he meant to protect this woman, he'd have to battle the Time Lord to do it. And more than likely, he'd lose.

Turning to face Blue fully, the Time Lord's face was almost completely obscured by the shadow. The sun was eternally setting in Scrap, and the deep orange disk sunk behind the Mystic, sending blinding orange rays out around where it reflected off of his shimmering cape. Still grinning, he said, "She is the one we're going to see."

That seemed to seal whatever secret conversation he and Aeon were having. More so than the miserable groan Aeon let out as everyone went from looking at the portal, to looking at _him_.

-(End Chapter)

With the horrifying truth about what truly occurred while Blue and Rouge were stranded in the past, Blue must now find a way to save his brother from the Endless Abyss and restore the future to what it should have been. And despite his one-time appearance, Aeon has returned, conveniently in time to help our heroes out. Even if he really rather not! So, who is this woman he and the Time Lord are muttering about, and how is it she can help them? Can Aeon lead them to her safely? And has Rouge truly fallen into the abyss? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	48. The Endless Abyss

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said that I can have control over Fuse's scenario. What sucks is that his scenario was cut from the game. Cheapskates.

Aeon didn't like having to lead a team of merry morons through the corridor of darkness, nor did he want to send them into a world where any slight in magic could cause it to collapse. But he did so. He did so only because _not_ doing it would prove far more harmful than anything even Zozma would try. So, he walked through the portal, the others following. Blue wasn't sure what to make of the short journey, to be honest. It was pitch-black, and he half-expected to fall off of the invisible floor they appeared to be walking on, but other than that, there was nothing to make the corridor stand out in his mind. It was like walking through a tunnel. Barely any magic at all…

When they came out, they were in a courtyard. It would have looked nice, and at first glance, the fountain in the center was marvelous indeed. But as they got closer, Blue saw that the fountain was overgrown with moss and did not work, and that the lawns were overgrown with weeds. Some weeds were so thick and hardy that it broke up the few patches of sidewalk still left. And though the court itself was enclosed, he could see the walls were crumbling, losing a battle against the ivy that was engulfing the place. And beyond that was a large castle, darkly sinister against the dusky purple of the sky. Much like the courtyard walls, ivy was threatening to choke it to death as well. Blue shivered. How could anything live here?

"Where are we?" he asked quietly, as the portal behind them vanished. Ildon and Zozma seemed just as curious, albeit just as cautious as he was. Aeon just sighed, trying to straighten what was left of his coat.

"Nesce, the world of the Espers," the time-keeper replied, "Or, whatever is left of it."

"Looks like a bomb hit the place," Zozma remarked, glancing around. Even Facinaturu looked more lively than this place, and he hated being in his own world. Aeon gave a snort that sounded like a mixture between amusement and bitterness.

"Three thousand years of neglect will do that to a world," Aeon replied quietly, "This world was on its last hinges. No one even thought it would still stand after what happened. We're quite lucky we've arrived." Zozma looked over, realizing that this was actually serious. He should've known. After all, Espers were much like Mystics – _their_ brand of Mystics, anyway. They loved living in luxury. This was the complete opposite.

"Tell me she's alive," he said, and Aeon nodded, but didn't look at him. Instead, he looked up at the crumbling castle, at what had once been the clock tower. The large glass clock face had long since shattered. He remembered how it had broken; a desperate attempt to flee with one's life had done it.

"She is, and she's waiting," he told them. Then, he led them out of the court, and through the large doors into the structure.

The sight was only minimally better. The hallway was destroyed, all pillars obliterated and the marble remains scattered across the cracked floor. The tapestries once adorning the walls were torn apart, and the chandelier in the center had fallen long ago, becoming home only to spiders and dust. There was no light, only slits falling from the moon above. Blue shivered again. No life to be had, but he felt magic as ancient as the worlds themselves. Then, he saw something move, and walk toward them. No, not something. _Someone_, who had a second figure with them, too.

"Who is there?" came a low voice, distinctly female. There was a German accent to it that didn't sound right to Blue, but the voice held authority to it that said she didn't expect to be ignored. And when she came in the moonlight, Blue was sourly surprised. The woman was not old – not physically, though he knew underneath the youthful look was a spirit as old as most races. She was not tall, either, barely standing at five-foot-four. She had two bat wings on her back and a long, spiked tail that lashed impatiently. Her long hair was tied back in a sash, and she wore a blue tail coat with unattached sleeves. The pendant on her chest marked her as an Esper Prince.

And next to her was a man, much taller than she was at six feet. He wore a black cloak, and his blue hair streamed down his back. There was an X-shaped scar on his face, and he looked even more imposing than Fuse did. He also looked as though he had no room for humor, or to entertain guests. He bore no jewels, and he was not an Esper, but Blue had no idea whose power was stronger.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, more forcefully this time, "…Aeon?"

"Sith, I've brought the Time Lord," Aeon said calmly, and added, "As well as a few people who require your aid." The woman, Sith, did not look happy in the least. Blue could see her features clearly enough. She was beautiful, but her expressions were incredibly harsh, much like her voice. That expression soured as she looked at the newcomers. She wasn't impressed.

"With what?" she asked flatly, and Blue winced. Such bitterness toward those words.

"To find someone," Aeon replied simply. Sith looked at her companion for a moment. He shook his head, though about what, Blue couldn't tell. Sith sighed, looking back at Aeon.

"I'm busy restoring what is left of my world, and you expect me to drop my work and _find_ someone," she reiterated, and Aeon nodded. She snorted almost disdainfully, "You ask a lot, Aeon."

"I've done more for _you_," he pointed out, and she looked at him, "Sith, _your_ reality isn't the only one affected. This man…" he pointed to Blue, "…lost his brother because time was spliced apart. You understand that pain. You lost Sceppiro."

"Do not dare to bring this up right now," Sith snapped angrily, and crossed her arms, "I may have lost my family, but I am not responsible for every problem that crosses Oblivion. Not any longer. I fulfilled my sentence. Bring it to Bahamut."

"So he can tell us that Rouge is lost forever?" Aeon retorted, and Sith fell silent. Aeon sighed and said, "I never knew her defeat would make you so heartless." Sith's eyes hardened as she stared at her old friend. Heartless… yes, she had been a heartless, once, years ago. The man next to her, with the scar, was the only reason she was pulled out of it. Sighing, she took his hand, and he smiled warmly at her.

"Aeon…" she said, backing away a step, "Who is this person, and what is the reason?" Aeon smiled at her. That meant he'd done his job. Sith was on their side, whether she wanted to be or not. He looked at Blue, feeling _he_ ought to tell her, since it was _his_ brother. Blue stepped up and knelt before the woman.

"My lady, the person in question is my twin brother, Rouge," he said to her, "He and I are magicians from the Magic Kingdom. He… he vanished after I threw him into the doors of light within a mystical replica of the Luminous dungeon."

"A stupid move indeed," Sith stated firmly, and Blue felt the weight of her words crushing him, "I have heard and known what you've done, young one. If not for your foolish action, your brother would be with you now." Blue looked up at her, tears stinging his eyes. How did she possibly know what he'd done, and how did she expect him to predict a difference in reality? Her eyes betrayed nothing short of disappointment in him. She was an Esper. She would have sensed a shift long before even the Time Lord would have.

"How the hell could we have known it would happen!" Zozma yelled at her, and the man with the scar snarled viciously at him. He realized that he might be dealing with two Espers, and wisely backed away. Sith, however, calmed her companion with a wave of her hand. It didn't dissipate his growl, but he didn't move to attack.

"If your race is as strong as mine, you should have at least thought of it," she said sternly, crossing her arms, "And _you_…" She looked directly at the Time Lord, "…should have warned them. By _your_ actions, time has been altered considerably and we may have lost the Hero of Magic." Blue looked at the older Mystic. He had no idea what was going on, but Sith's words hit the poor man hard. The Time Lord couldn't look at her.

"Hero?" Blue asked her. She glanced at him for a second. Her eyes seemed to see much more than a magician in that second.

"Avatar, young one," Sith said to him calmly, "There are, in effect, twelve. There are always twelve Avatars, each one representing a different side of the same dice. When one falls, it rebirths within the next millennia. But for obvious reasons, we do not like to lose our own." A thousand years was a long time to go without a Hero. So then… Aubergine was gone?

"Rouge and I are Heroes?" he asked her, but Sith shook his head. Her expression softened for once.

"Aubergine was… an exception," she explained gently, "A manmade avatar, a false replica. A farce."

"What do you mean!" Ildon asked her, and his brows creased, "I'm sorry, my queen, but you are telling us our _friends_ are nothing more than fakes. They are, and I assure you, everything but fake." Sith considered him carefully. There was a knowing glint in her eyes as she looked over. Something that said she knew well what she said.

"What I mean is that Aubergine was created using science, not within the bounds of nature," she replied easily, and the room grew cold, "Humans are a hard lot, and magic is restricted to them for a very real reason. Aubergine was created with one purpose: to break those limits and create someone who could wield every type of magic within Oblivion. _They_ nearly succeeded." Blue knew where the flaw was. It was in the fact that he and Rouge let each other live, and _loved_ each other. They had grown up as brothers, not as rivals. That was why they had been separated when their parents died.

"We foiled them," Blue whispered, and Sith nodded.

"Because of your bond with your brother, you both are Heroes. The _Twins_ of Magic," Sith said emphatically, "But that comes with a cost. The Hero only lives when both brothers are alive." So if Rouge was dead, it was no wonder she was so annoyed with the Time Lord. They'd just lost one hero, and in his world, it was the year 2007. Almost one thousand years before a new Hero of magic would be reborn.

"Rouge _is_ dead," Blue said quietly, and didn't notice Sith was looking at him. She looked away for a second. Perhaps that had been a harsh thing to imply. What happened was a tricky thing to explain; she had only seen it happen twice in her long life, and both times, she hadn't even physically been there. Who was she to proclaim Rouge dead?

"Perhaps not, but if he is within the Endless Abyss, he won't have much time before his soul is devoured," she explained, and everyone's attention sharpened, "The Endless Abyss is much like a black hole. It sucks in the energy of lost souls. That is what fuels the magical links throughout Oblivion; energy from these souls." Blue felt himself getting sick. If that were true, why didn't the Espers do anything to stop it? He had been told long ago that Espers were responsible for the peace of Oblivion, and in effect, every world within. Surely, it was their job to oversee such a huge problem.

"Sith, how long does it take for this to happen?" Orlouge asked her. Her lips thinned. And her eyes glinted underneath her glasses. With the reflected moonlight coming up off the marble, it illuminated her face in an eerie manner. Blue suppressed a shudder.

"How strong is his soul?" she countered in reply, "I cannot say for sure, as I've never met him."

"If he's anything like Blue, he'll go kicking and screaming," Fuse said to her. Sith thought about this carefully. Blue looked strong enough, and she felt how powerful his will was. Yes… Rouge had some time. But still, it was nothing compared to what it could take just to touch such a plane. Even with her slowly waning power, the Abyss was no friend. It would never yield, not without a price. A price she knew the man beside her would never pay.

"We may just have hope," she said, and then turned, "Follow me." Blue smiled warmly. He had never thought he'd receive an Esper's help, but something must've gotten to her. Without hesitation, he followed her down the darkening hallway. Whether anyone followed them, he didn't know.

Sith led him down the hall and then up a half-broken flight of steps onto the second floor of the castle. Here, chunks of the outside wall were missing, and moonlight spilled in, casting long, silver rays on the broken floor and up the crumbling walls. Blue looked as they walked down a side passage, and saw torn portraits of past lords of the castle – Sith's family, he guessed, as they all had the same black hair and green eyes. Most of the pictures were of men; only two were women. One, he knew, was Sith's mother. The other may have been a cousin, for she had red hair, not black, though the resemblance to Sith was uncanny.

After a short distance, Sith turned again into a slightly-open door. Blue followed her, and they walked into a large round chamber. Here, the walls had not yet broken, and the moonlight streamed in through cracked glass arches. The throne near the back was broken at the top, and covered with a black sash on the seat, and the floor had sustained moderate damage over the years. The chandelier, however, was perfectly intact. Blue found that quite odd, considering the state of the rest of the castle. Sith didn't seem to notice. She simply walked toward the center of the sparse chamber, and when Blue stopped, he nearly yelped when he felt the blue-haired man walk right past to join her.

The couple stopped dead center of the room, and turned to Blue. He blinked, wondering what they expected from him. Neither said a word, but then Blue heard something in his mind. At first, it translated as just a gentle push. Then, that link sharpened into a spear, and it went past his mental defense so quickly. He knew instantly it was Sith.

'_Blue, come here_,' Sith said calmly. Blue nodded, wondering why she hadn't asked him verbally. Was she worried Orlouge would see? She hadn't said no one else could come along, and when Blue looked back, he saw that the others _had_ followed. They simply knew that Blue would be the most anxious. It _was_ his brother on the line, after all. Maybe it'd look less terrifying if it looked like he was going _without_ her instruction.

When Blue was just a few steps away, Sith said, "Opening a portal into the Endless Abyss won't be easy, even for Esper Princes. But it is doable, and I know the way inside. I simply need more power."

"One of us?" Zozma asked her, but Sith shook her head. No, it would not be wise to drain one of them, especially since all of them were going through. The man beside her stepped forward, and finally spoke.

"Me," he said, and his deep voice scared Blue more than the scar on his face. It sounded almost threatening, and in that instance, Blue now understood why the man's power felt so hostile. It had been so pointed, and his expression so sharp. He _had_ to be Sith's husband. Especially since, when Sith touched his arm to calm him down, it actually _worked_.

"Neither Saix nor myself will be going inside of the Abyss, so it's fitting that we should exhaust ourselves," Sith explained gently, offsetting the hostility in her husband's demeanor, "But you… all of you will be instrumental to the survival of whatever is left of our worlds." Her words sounded so definite, that it would've been only typical if a flash of lightning had erupted outside in that second. Blue knew she spoke the truth. It terrified him to know that, because there would be no backing away. Even if he ran, he knew now that if they didn't save Rouge, the world would end. But why?

"Sith, what's going to happen if we don't go in?" Blue asked her seriously. Sith took a deep breath, and didn't speak for a long moment.

"If you do not, then I fear the one who caused the collapse will destroy Oblivion," she replied seriously, darkly, "This web holds many threads, and they all lead to the center. You will find what you seek there, but only if you have the courage to go through." Another deep breath, another long moment passed. "Do you have the courage, Blue?"

"Rouge is worth my getting that courage," Blue admitted truthfully, "He's my brother. I can't run away." Sith smiled, and it looked odd in the darkness. Was it a trick of the light? Was it genuine?

"I said the exact same thing before I lost my brother and sister," she said quietly. Blue shook. Did that mean that even Sith's courage had failed? He couldn't understand why, but he found himself wanting to understand more. He hadn't thought much on it, but perhaps there was more meaning to Aeon's earlier comment, about the man named Sceppiro. Perhaps Sith's situation had been akin to his own.

"What happened to them? To your siblings?" he found himself asking, before he could stop it. Sith's smile grew more… sinister. Almost demented, but not quite.

"It was nearly five years ago, in another world," she began, "There was a woman – a Mystic named Rath – who plotted to destroy Oblivion by erasing my family from time itself. By trying to tamper with the memories I had made in different worlds, and by gods, she nearly succeeded. Leading me on like a dog on a leash.

"It ended here, in Nesce," she continued grimly, and her smile faded, "She had gone too far, removing my family from the contexts of time without destroying us. She had made us into _phantoms_. No history, no memories… nothing but the present. I vowed right then to take her head to Bahamut himself. And, I literally did. Sliced her head clean off." She paced around for a moment, and Blue never took his eyes off of her. Why did this feel familiar to him?

"It was a battle to the death. But not even I could foresee what she would do. The second her life ended, there was a horrifying explosion. Her entire body, her entire world, was set to explode the second she was disposed of," Sith said, and now her voice shook with emotion, with regret, "It devastated so many worlds, and killed so many people! And to think it was from my own hands, again. I had to relive the horror of knowing all of those souls bled and died because of me, because of the fact that I had to kill, or risk the destruction of the _entire_ universe." She stopped pacing, and now she stared straight at Blue. That knowing look, that familiar link. Their eyes locked, and neither blinked for so long.

"What hurt the most was that she was my own cousin," Sith finally said, "Since my birth, we were destined to fight to the death over the throne of Nesce. Only one could survive." Now Blue understood. A forced rivalry, a battle of power, a test of will, and a trial of pain. He knew Sith had never wanted what she was forced to enact. But there was one difference that separated her scenario from his; Rouge had loved him. Rath had obviously not loved Sith. And it was that lack of love that forced Sith to be merciless. He could see it in her eyes, the eyes that wanted to shed those tears.

"You lost your brother to that explosion," he concluded. Sith nodded stiffly, and the air between them grew cold.

"My sister was killed in Domino, along with her fiancé," Sith confirmed, "My brother was killed trying to keep me from being ripped apart in the tear of Oblivion that had erupted. And my husband…" She looked at Saix, her eyes filled with tears and her body trembling, "…had no choice but to pull me out before we both were killed." Blue smiled weakly, and was glad that her husband had the foresight to save her life. But still, to tell him this much… she must know something he still didn't see. Would one of them need to die to preserve the universe? Was that what Aubergine was about?

"I'm sorry for your loss," he finally said, deciding that any connection at all, he would ask about later. Sith let out a breath, and seemed to relax a bit. Maybe they were kin, in a way, due to the horrifying nature of their destined rivalries. He couldn't be certain, since this was the first time he'd met someone with a similar fate.

When Sith finally looked at him again, she smiled warmly and took his hand. Hers felt warm, and Blue felt at peace when she said, "We all have the ability to change our destinies, Blue. It's not what we were born with that matters. It's through our actions. Choices, and decisions. Remember this."

"What if I choose the wrong thing?" he whispered, knowing that if he chose to save his brother, it could possibly mean the end. He had no idea what waited for them within the center of the abyss.

"There is no such choice," Sith assured him firmly. Blue felt another weight lifted off of him, and Sith sensed it as well. Good. One less thing to worry about when she sent them off to save humanity. All at once, she let go of him and turned quickly to her husband. Saix shifted uncomfortably, and one of his pointed ears tilted in slight bewilderment. If she had asked him anything within their thread, he didn't quite understand her.

"Saix, it is time," she said quietly. He nodded, his attention suddenly sharp again. He turned and stood underneath the right side of the chandelier; Sith took the left, and they faced each other. Blue and the others watched as the couple closed their eyes, and then murmured something in words they did not understand. Both of them began to glow a faint blue – Saix's was less pronounced, but Sith's aura was terrifyingly potent. Then, their chant grew louder, and Blue saw a molecular distortion in the air between them.

The air wavered, and there was a faint thrumming sound in their ears. Blue blinked and glanced about, wondering if there was something in a distant room to cause such a noise. But he was aware that it was all due to whatever spell the couple was enacting. He turned to watch again, and had to suppress a gasp. Now he understood the point of the chandelier, and why it was in such good repair when nothing else could match it. The portal – a fiery, teardrop-shaped doorway that floated in mid-air – was positioned right underneath it, in the very center of the room. No, not just the room, and perhaps even further than the castle itself. It was in the center of the world itself, of Nesce.

Blue watched for a long moment as the portal wavered and then steadied. The rim of the arch blazed a deep crimson, and sparks of fire roared and sputtered from within. He could already feel the heat pouring off of the interior, could feel that flood of power already waiting for them. _That_ was the Endless Abyss, the mirror of Oblivion. But whereas Oblivion was a void of darkness and cold, the Abyss was going to be hot as all levels of hell – quite literally, it seemed. Rouge could not possibly stand such heat for long.

Turning to Fuse, Blue said firmly, "We jump in _now_."

"We're right behind you, boy," Fuse replied just as seriously, and cocked his laser pistol, "Ain't much we're going to be able to do, but if we're the heroes now, it won't matter. Let's go in there and save your brother." And if they were lucky, perhaps they could pull Ciato out of his madness as well. Without a goodbye to Sith, Blue drew his sword and jumped straight in. Fuse and the others followed wordlessly, loyally.

The Endless Abyss was both what Blue expected, and quite the opposite of what he expected as well. Two sides to a coin, much like every other plane he'd heard of. He expected the heat and the red haze of hellfire and death. But he had also expected to be fighting without the limits of gravity. When he entered the portal, he did not expect to land on solid ground. And when he did land, he managed to trip. The Abyss should have been like space was – without gravity or structure.

Yet, there it all was. He was standing on the ground, and all around him were formations of volcanoes, spiked outcroppings, distorted towers of who-knew-what, and seas of molten lava. It was hard to get a grasp on what they should be looking at first, or even avoiding altogether. Nothing more than a mash of chaos and danger, yet somehow, it all made _sense_. They were in a chaotic realm, a realm where mortals should never go, where even the kings of death and the gods themselves feared to tread. With the sparks of fire and the sounds of demented and lost souls all around them, the Endless Abyss was spread far and wide. It was a living nightmare just to see it all.

"Where in hell do we start?" Zozma asked, his voice nearly drowned out by the sudden eruption of a lava geyser, some two hundred feet from them. Blue resisted a snort. _Hell_ seemed like a good place to start, but even that looked relatively peaceful compared to what they were facing.

"She never said we'd be stranded in the middle of nowhere," Ildon grumbled irritably, drawing his thin sword as he looked toward a large tower, on a rocky island some distance away. Thunder crashed far beyond, and he cursed, "If we get out alive, I'm going to kill her."

"Killing an Esper is the worst crime imaginable, boy," Fuse reminded him, but for once, he wasn't sarcastic in any way, "You do that, and not only will _my_ boys be on your ass, so will every living thing that Sith's spoken to. That's a lot of people to deal with." Ildon would've retorted with some nasty comment, but right then, he was having some trouble just remembering that they had to _find_ someone amidst the fiery hell.

"Let's see how many will back her if she sends _them_ here, too," Ildon simply mumbled under his breath. Blue felt a little bad for him – after all, none of them had to join him for this – but he reminded himself that this was Ildon's choice as well as his own to come. Sith never forced them to do it. She simply asked them if they had the courage to even try.

Blue now wondered how many of them truly did as they stood in the abyss, surrounded by nothing but barren wastes and the souls of the tormented. Out here, it would take every ounce of courage just to walk, just to imagine what they could be looking at next. Would it be a ghost? Would it be a demon? They could never know for sure, but they'd face it all eventually. Now Blue understood why Sith hadn't forced them. Not even she would come here willingly, and he knew the soul that burned inside of her. Could he possibly be that strong, without Rouge by his side?

He knew that he had to be. Even if he wasn't, he'd find the courage Sith needed him to have. This was even more than just losing a sibling; if he didn't find that courage, the entire universe would fall. So, with Sith's final words burning, and with a deep breath, Blue lifted his foot and took a step forward. There was no rumbling in the ground, no tremor that threatened to open the earth and swallow him. The fires didn't grow to devour his soul, and no demon came to claim him. He simply walked forward. He had shut his eyes to keep out the horrors of hell, but now he opened them. Nothing had changed.

"Rouge?" he called. For just an instance, he felt that familiar energy when he found his courage. But it was gone before he fully registered it. He let out a sigh, looking around. He expected to see a spirit, or a will-of-the-wisp. He saw nothing but the ocean of lava in the distance.

"What's up, Blue?" Zozma called, and Blue turned toward the others. They were waiting for him to do something, waiting to follow him. That's when he realized now why Sith had spoken only to him. Aubergine was alive – _he_ was Aubergine now. He had to be. Rouge was still alive, he simply didn't have the power to hold any of Aubergine's energy. But Blue… now he understood why Sith's words hit him so hard. He smiled a bit, though he couldn't quite see why. He was now responsible for the entire universe.

"I know where we have to go," he said quietly, and Zozma stared at him skeptically. But Blue merely continued smiling, and he pointed behind the group, toward the roads. They turned. The roads split off and went down random directions until they seemed to melt into the lava. Blue stared, thinking of how much it resembled a spider's web. Threads. Choices. Decisions. He had to decide which road to take. He knew any would take him to the center of the abyss – he just didn't know what each road would have waiting for him.

In the end, he took the centermost road. Not because it looked straight or relatively peaceful, but simply because he felt no need to change his course. All things began and ended within the center, and he intended to stay in that center on whatever level of the word he could grasp. For a long while, the path was straight, and all other signs of the other roads seemed to vanish the instant Blue's mind had been made up. Lava bubbled in thick pools on either side, and the heat pouring out of them was almost unbearable. It reddened his skin and cast an eerie orange glow on his blonde hair. But he barely noticed it, for he had much more on his mind to think of. Though he kept his eyes on the road, on the path ahead of him, his mind kept wandering around, trying to find any sign of Rouge's soul. Sith had never said how far he'd need to go to actually see his brother.

It felt too far, and after nearly three hours, Blue stopped. It was so abrupt that Zozma nearly knocked right into him and fell into the lava. Quick reflexes and Blue's peripheral vision saved the Mystic, but the same couldn't be said for Blue – he now had to deal with a very annoyed Mystic prince, who honestly couldn't see why he had stopped at all.

To Zozma, the place looked exactly like where they had started three hours ago; red, lava-filled, barren, and _too damn hot_. He _tried_ to see whatever it was Blue saw before he just let his rage topple over and throttle the mage. He tried to understand that Blue needed time to think and to plan. He even tried to remind himself that Blue lost his brother and needed some grieving time. But to Zozma, who had never had siblings or even wanted them at all, all he saw was that Blue had no idea what he was truly getting them into. And that was why fists were so useful. They knocked common sense into moronic idiots like that.

When Blue did _nothing_ for too many minutes, Zozma decided resistance meant nothing and asked, "Why the hell are we stopping _here?_" He glanced over and saw that Ildon was probably wondering the same thing as well.

"Because I don't think we're going the right way," Blue replied distantly, turning to look at the road ahead, "We've been going in a straight line for too long."

"Did Sith not say all roads will lead us to the center?" Orlouge pointed out calmly. While that was true, Blue understood what a spider web was. The threads were never _just straight_. They curved and arched and weaved and zigzagged. Their threads were as twisted as the minds who made them. This should have been no different.

"We are _not_ going the right way," Blue insisted firmly, without looking at them. He didn't care how many didn't agree. He _knew_ something wasn't quite right. But what was the secret?

"You want us to turn back? _Now?_" Fuse asked him incredulously. Blue suppressed a low growl. He wasn't asking them to do anything. He just needed to see, to listen. He needed to understand the abyss a bit better. The secret lay within them, somewhere, but he couldn't understand. Sith hadn't said much about the abyss at all, now that he thought about it.

"What was the secret, Sith?" he murmured, closing his eyes and going deep within himself to try and remember everything the Esper had said. Threads. Choices. Decisions. Courage of the soul. Changing destinies.

That's when it hit him. Sith had given him exactly what he needed. To change his destiny, he had to literally change the landscape. And he could do it. Sith had not said the abyss was a constant thing. The abyss was like space; made of nothing. He knew how to make something from nothing. And if he really _was_ a Hero, he could do this. He grinned. It almost felt wrong on his face, but damn it, he knew how to proceed. Energy from the soul fueled the abyss. That meant every thought controlled it, too. He _thought_ they were getting nowhere, and that was exactly what happened. What if he thought the path to be different?

"Want to know what I truly think?" he asked them after several moments, and his tone caught their attention. He sounded mischievous, and even Zozma began to wonder how much the abyss was damaging his sanity. Zozma arched a brow.

"Er… what do you think?" was the nervous reply. Blue's grin grew, though his back was to his friends and they could not see him. Yes, Sith had given him everything he needed, and she'd done it without them knowing it.

"I think this road needs to curve a bit more and show us more of the abyss," he said lightly. Nothing happened, though, and it only served to confuse his team. Zozma snorted and shook his head, and Fuse glanced around, trying to see what Blue was truly up to. No magic was used, and there were no ghosts or the like around.

"That's nice, boy, but we need to keep going for that to happen," the cop replied innocently. Then, something did happen. The road ahead literally shifted, the scene ahead shattering like glass before their very eyes before reforming a second later. And this time, the road curved. The road branched. It twisted and turned, going around geysers and rocky pillars that had not been there before. The roar of the lava rivers surrounded them, and a new sense of fear came pouring in. Blue had just done something, and in their minds, it was a very stupid thing to do.

"What the hell did you do!" Ildon yelled over the roaring. Blue finally turned, and he looked at peace. He reformed the abyss, and made it possible to see truly where they were. The illusion of a single road was gone. They had new choices to make, new roads to go down. They had new ways of reaching the center.

"The abyss is controlled with thoughts," Blue told them, his calm voice ringing out above the roar, "I _knew_ we would never reach the end. So, I changed the abyss." It sounded so simple, but even Fuse knew that such a thing was no small feat. Blue truly was what Sith said he was. And he proved it with that instance.

"Oh. Well… good," Fuse said with a shrug, "As long as you know what you're doing." Blue resisted a chuckle. Fuse had absolutely no idea what to make of what he said. Fuse, unfortunately, was not gifted with magic. This must've blown his mind away. And for the others? Well, none of _them_ were particularly happy with the change, either.

"I liked it better when it was just a nice, little road, and there weren't all these stupid _pillars and lava geysers_ waiting to _murder_ us," Zozma mumbled grumpily, and then said more simply, "Think whatever you thought ten minutes ago. Make it a nice road again."

"I think you ought to shut up," Ildon retorted unhelpfully. And in that instance, Blue proved that another thing he said was true: the abyss really was controlled with thought. The scene melted again and turned back into a single road. But it didn't stay for long, because as soon as Blue registered it, the scene shifted yet again. This time, they were on just a tiny island, _completely surrounded_ with molten lava. He had no idea _who_ thought this was a funny idea, but he was sure whoever it was would be pushed right in. And he was looking at Zozma.

Unfortunately, the abyss did not seem to know whose thoughts should've been more powerful. As Zozma and Ildon kept their thoughts to a raging war, the scenes and views shifted constantly and uncomfortably. The island suddenly stretched on and on endlessly, and then shrunk again before ten seconds passed. Then it stretched and wavered like a sheet of rubber, only to collapse and turn into the spider's web yet again. Blue felt his mind twitch as he watched it all happen. Rightfully, Sith had given this ability to _him_, and thusly, he knew he was responsible if they all just suddenly _died_. But for whatever reason, two idiot Mystic princes outweighed the authority of a Hero. And they were doing what idiots do best: they were making fools of themselves and the world around them.

It lasted no more than ten minutes before Blue finally lost it. He hadn't wanted to, and he tried to be understanding and patient with them. But they were literally in the hell of hells, and one could only take so much of a never-ending scene before one lost whatever was left of his ever-shrinking sanity. When the road began to actually break up due to the power behind the two Mystics' thoughts, Blue knew they had no time left. The abyss was ready to fall apart. With one breath, he screamed the only word he knew that might just put an end to their foolishness: "_STOP!_"

"Huh?" Zozma turned, both Mystics snapping out of their war as Ildon grunted, "You interrupted us." But right then, Blue didn't care. Right then, he stopped them from exhausting too much of the abyss's power as it tried to figure out whose thoughts should control it.

"And just in time, no doubt," the mage snapped back angrily, "Any longer, and you two would've torn up the abyss."

"Really!" Zozma asked, eyes widened in awe. Blue resisted the urge to punch him. That wasn't anything to be proud of. That would've meant their deaths. Then again, this was Zozma, the prince of destruction. Anything that meant their deaths would excite him.

Ignoring him, Blue took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the scene that had been there before the two Mystics started messing with it. He felt – yet he didn't see – the scene melt away before him, that single road shifting and changing, and the scene once again becoming a tangled web of pathways; each one leading to the center, but each one heading its own way with its own obstacles. When Blue let out his breath and opened his eyes, he saw the scene as it should have been. The paths were intertwined and connected, jagged yet somehow still passable. The haze was heavier now. The abyss still had a life of its own, and was _not_ pleased at having to shift so many times to suit such wild thoughts.

"Well, that's more like it," Blue murmured, taking a step forward. Then he stopped. It felt considerably warmer than it had, than it should have been. Blue felt the sweat roll down his face, and he narrowed his eyes. He had straightened the abyss out, but something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Why is it so damn hot?" Fuse asked, practically panting as he joined Blue at the front. That was a good question. Why _was_ it so hot? Blue wondered if perhaps he had shifted something that ought to have been left alone. But that was impossible; he couldn't shift something he didn't know existed. And Sith hadn't warned him about such a thing, either.

Taking another breath, Blue stepped forward again. The heat rose further, bordering on nearly unbearable. He broke out in a sweat, and this time he backed away. There was no way he could continue onward, not on this path. He would be burned alive by an unseen force. He could already hear his heart pounding, thunderously loud in his ears. What had he done? What had he shifted? Concerned, Blue closed his eyes and tried to focus. He needed to make a safer route, one his friends could traverse without harm.

The abyss did not shift this time. Its energy, and its patience, had been completely exhausted. Blue felt his own energy being leeched when he tried to shape the world around him. And it was a leech he knew he could not handle. He was _not_ Aubergine, not yet. And he knew when to give in. Sighing in disappointment, he opened his eyes and shook his head. There was nothing more he could do. They were stuck with the paths he created, and they would need to find a new way to go. He couldn't help but feel fully responsible for this. This was the abyss in _his_ mind, after all. Because of that, he couldn't even look Fuse in the eye. He turned his head toward the outer passages.

That's when he noticed something he hadn't seen before, even when he first shifted the abyss to suit his needs. Perhaps a thousand feet away stood a large island, connected to many, many pathways and surrounded on the northern edge completely by dark, red rocks that no doubt fueled part of the scorching heat. And on that island was something else, something that was quite unlike anything Blue had ever seen before. It was shaped like an oval and suspended above the ground by about a foot or two. There was a light, orange glow to it that illuminated the rocks behind only slightly. Blue narrowed his eyes to get a better look.

At first glance, he thought he was looking at a crystal within the oval. After all, it was a simple dot in the center. But then he saw other things within the oval – wisps and tendrils of blood-red mist that looked strikingly similar to veins. All of them pointed to the red dot, which suddenly looked frighteningly like the pupil of an eye. But it was no eye. For, despite the warm glow emitted, neither eyes nor crystals pulsed or throbbed the way this… _thing_ was throbbing. Blue realized now why his heartbeat had seemed too loud. It _wasn't_ his heart. At least, it wasn't _his_ heart. He realized with absolute terror why it had grown so warm, why he could not go further.

What he was staring at was the very heart of the abyss. The very heart of Oblivion itself. And that heart was about to explode.

-(End Chapter)

With the help of Sith, Blue and the others managed to get into the plane that no god treads: the Endless Abyss. But now, they have no way to escape, and Zozma and Ildon exhausted the energy within the plane itself! With one last charge left, Blue has managed to shift it back and bring forth the path and threads he wants. But at what cost? For, by doing so, he's also revealed the heart of Oblivion, which weakens with every second. What can they do when that heart is set to explode? Can Blue find Rouge before time runs out? Or are there other surprises waiting for them? Find out next chapter, and click that Review button!


	49. The Heart of the World

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said my little 'heart' sounds a lot like the 'Oblivion Gates' in Elder Scrolls IV. I actually didn't realize that until I bought the game, after making the last chapter. Strange coincidence? Or do _I_ own a deed I don't remember having! Wait… no, it's coincidence. Oops.

The center of the oval continued to pulse. At first, the pulse was slow, but as each pulse beat, the center began to grow, and the horrible heartbeat grew in decibel with it. Within less than a minute, the tiny dot was the size of a small heart, and kept growing. Soon, it no longer looked like a dot at all, but rather like a heart itself. And as it grew, red veins began to appear as well, until it looked all too much like a swollen, purple-red heart. All the while, Blue could only stare at it, half in shock, half in disgust. He had never seen such an abomination before! And it just kept mutating.

But that horrifying realization just seconds before came back to Blue. The heart was beating, yes, but every second it grew was a second where Oblivion itself would collapse. For that heart was not merely just a heart – every second it beat was a second the clock was winding down. And when that clock ran out, that heart would explode and take every world within with it. Blue had to tear his gaze away. This wasn't the time to stop his tracks. He had the heart in his sights. Now he had to get to it.

Even though the paths were clear and led right to that island, there still remained the problem of that unbearable, vile heat. And with no way to change the plane to suit him any longer, Blue had to be very creative, very quickly. But, damn it all, he barely had any magic without Rouge! He wished he had questioned Sith more thoroughly on what the Endless Abyss would be like. He was unprepared for a horror such as this.

"Anyone come equipped with an Ice Crystal?" Zozma asked, both sincere and amused at the same time. Blue didn't find it funny.

"Wouldn't said crystal just _melt?_" Ildon retorted, as Fuse's lips thinned and he said, "Ain't there a spell to cool this place off?"

"No spell would be able to stop the heart of Oblivion," Blue stated grimly, and all three stopped their bickering and looked at him, "It is a heart that's been beating since the beginning of time." Zozma and Ildon shivered. There was something about Blue's tone that spelled finality. But how he could know, neither could say. This was the first time any of them had seen such a thing.

Fuse, unfortunately, wasn't as terrified. He looked from Blue, to the heart, and said, "It's still a heart. Hearts can break."

"It's _the_ heart of _Oblivion_," Ildon pointed out, eyes gleaming for a second, his wings stiff as he spoke, "Don't you think it's a bit more stable than a regular, _mortal_ heart?" Fuse nodded. He may have had his moments, but he wasn't an idiot – not in _his_ mind, anyway. That heart would be a tough one to crack. But the boys back at IRPO didn't call him 'Lady-Friendless Fuse' for nothing; he had broken _many_ hearts back in his day. Though, and he had never said this to anyone before, that was mainly Silence's fault. Still, he knew how to break a heart. And this heart just happened to be a little bit bigger than he was used to.

"Heart's still a heart," Fuse reasoned, and turned to that heart, "Okay, boys, it's time you got a lesson from dad and learned how to break a heart. This'll come in handy when the girls come breaking down your doors." Zozma and Ildon just stared at Fuse, eyes wide in disbelief. They were at _least_ ten times Fuse's age. Then, they looked at Blue, and finally, at each other. Only one thing seemed to churn up from the depths of their minds.

"Oh, dear lord…" they both said in unison. Then, they turned to see just what Fuse's 'lesson' consisted of.

In short, it was nothing good. Fuse tucked his shirt in his pants and straightened the leather coat he wore. Then, he walked – _very casually_, mind you – toward the pulsating, throbbing heart. He walked as far as he could before he was at the risk of spontaneous combustion. Which, ironically, just wasn't very far at all. As tough as Fuse was, his body wasn't going to tolerate anything over one-hundred-twenty degrees. And, while Blue had no idea how accurate his guess was, he had a feeling it was _much_ hotter than that over by where the heart was. So, when Fuse began to feel his skin blister just slightly, he stepped back and stopped. Then he stared at the heart, eyes hard with emotion, as though he was about to say something that would break both that heart, and his. Then, he sighed.

"Heart, it's over," Fuse said sternly, crossing his arms, "I'm dumping you for a Mystic, and I'm not taking you back." Then, he turned away, glancing back just once to add, "I'm sorry it has to end this way." The wind rustled at precisely that moment, ruffling his hair in a dramatic effect. If the sun had been setting, it would've been picturesque. But despite the attractive nature of whatever Fuse's lesson was, it didn't do anything. The heart was still throbbing.

"What was that supposed to do?" Zozma whispered to Blue, who just shook his head and said nothing. Fuse didn't exactly hear Zozma, but he too noticed how much _nothing_ happened; he had expected that oversized heart to just explode. And though Fuse didn't see the complications with that, it was for the best. The others all knew that, if Fuse's plan actually succeeded, they'd die in the explosion.

"I don't get it," Fuse said, scratching his forehead, "Normally, that works. I've only had to mention Silence _once_." He didn't even hear Zozma snickering behind him. Blue just blinked. He wanted to say something, but he had no idea how to even respond. The fact that Fuse actually thought this would teach them anything just blew his mind.

"Well… the heart has no idea who Silence is," Blue finally said quietly, deciding that if they were going to get _anywhere_ at all, it'd be through _his_ thinking, not Fuse's.

Turning from Fuse, back toward the heart, Blue noticed that it had stopped growing. It was now the size of a small boulder; the veins were as thick as branches. But it still beat strong, and every beat brought a wave of heat that made them take a step back further. Blue's brows creased. This wasn't the way he wanted to go. They had to get close to the heart, not away from it. But when he took just one step forward, he was hit full force with a blast that sent him staggering backwards. And if Ildon hadn't caught him, he'd have tripped and fallen right into a pool of molten lava.

"Damn it!" he cursed angrily, as Ildon helped him to his feet, "We have to get to that heart! If we don't stop it…"

"It will take out the entire universe," the Time Lord finished for him, and they all turned and stared at him. He no longer looked as amused, or as youthful as he normally did. And there was a look in his eyes, something that gave Blue a piece of insight that he had never thought of before. Something that said clearly, the Time Lord had been through this.

"What!" Ildon gasped, as Zozma said, "Are you serious!"

"Not one mortal alive has ever seen the heart of Oblivion," Orlouge stated grimly, and he too seemed to have that same look the Time Lord had, "But it is a real thing, and it has the power to keep Oblivion alive… or to kill it off for good." Just like a real heart could, of course. Blue could only stare, eyes wide, as he digested this. The Time Lord had seen it before. Orlouge knew of it. But did Sith? She was the one who sent them here. Did she actually know what she was sending them to?

"How could she know?" Blue whispered aloud, half in awe, half in horror. If she did know, just what did that mean? She was an Esper, but she was still mortal… wasn't she?

"Who?" Zozma asked him, and then snorted, "That Esper lady?"

"Did Sith know about this!" Blue asked the two elder Mystics, and his tone shocked them. It wasn't accusatory – it was concern! "Did she know what we'd find here!" The Time Lord shared a glance with Orlouge, neither knowing what to say. The lies fabricated to protect this plane had been painful. But the truth might just get Sith killed.

In the end, though, it was best for the universe to tell the truth. The Time Lord nodded and said, "Yes. She has never physically seen it, but she knows about the heart of Oblivion." How much truth he'd tell, however, he had a limit on. Besides, most of it had nothing to do with their own world. But somehow, Blue found himself increasingly curious. He tilted his head.

"How does she know?" he asked. The Time Lord physically winced. It was clear that he _didn't_ want to tell them.

"Let's just say that things in the Esper's life have caused her to learn things no mortal should know," the lord said, with such finality that Blue didn't dare question – even if his desire to know burned as badly as the heat outside. Blue just looked at the heart. Sith had known all along. Was that why she hadn't wanted to help Aeon? Was that why her world was so broken?

"But what can we do?" Blue wondered sadly, and Zozma looked at him curiously, "How long has it been like this? How can we stop the heart before it explodes?"

"Let's take it one step at a time and just get to it, first," Ildon suggested, and his calm voice brought Blue's spirit up, "You won't save your brother by rushing in. And that Esper wouldn't have sent us here if she didn't think we could do this. Just… think." Blue did think. He thought about what he'd learned about the Endless Abyss. It supposedly did shift with the changing of one's thoughts. But it no longer did that. And its heart. Was it a living entity or not?

"The abyss is alive," Blue said, and Ildon nodded in agreement, "Sith said it lives through the lost souls who come here."

"Think there's a way to talk to those souls?" Zozma asked, sharing Blue's train of thought. Blue and Ildon exchanged interested glances. If there was, they could find out what was causing the heart to speed up. They might even be able to speak with Rouge. Blue looked over at the Time Lord and Orlouge, wondering what their thoughts on the matter were. But their expressions were almost unreadable; what Blue did read, however, he didn't like. It was an uncertainty in something.

"You don't think it could work?" Blue managed to ask. The Time Lord looked at him for a moment, and smiled weakly. That normally meant he didn't, even if he worded it in a way that made him seem like he did.

"I think it will, just not in the way you'd want," the older Mystic replied gently. Zozma stared at him, his eyes narrowing. He wasn't in the mood to play games.

"Don't talk in riddles, Time Lord," he said defiantly, almost commandingly. Ildon's mouth dropped. Even if Zozma was next in line after Asellus, that gave him no right to be an ass. Surprisingly, though, the Time Lord actually answered him. And he wasn't upset.

"Speaking to them will be easy if you can manage telepathy," The Time Lord explained simply, "But it's what they will say that concerns me. These are not sane souls any longer. They have been warped and twisted into horrible things because of the abyss." No wonder Sith was concerned when Blue told her about Rouge. Blue's eyes watered. If that were true, was Rouge already affected?

When he asked, Orlouge said, "It takes time for this to happen, but it depends on where Rouge is. As a soul, you should be able to feel traces of his residual energy. Can you?"

"No," Blue admitted sadly. He sighed, and felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and saw Ildon looking down at him. The Mystic was smiling as weakly as the Time Lord had.

"He isn't lost yet," the green-haired Mystic said, and there was a level of strength to him that Blue felt in his touch. He needed that sort of strength. He nodded, trying to smile as well. But it felt so out of place.

"I know he's deeper in the abyss, but how can we get him?" Blue asked quietly, looking at the heart, "We can't change the path anymore, and no matter where we go, it's too hot to continue. What can we do?" Ildon and Zozma turned to the heart as well. It was true that their options looked bleak. But there had to be a way. Sith wouldn't have sent them there if there wasn't – Espers were never known to send mortals to their doom before. Yet, not one of them could think of a way to cross. Not even the Time Lord!

Zozma's eyes narrowed again as he continued to look at the heart. Why _couldn't_ they figure this out? They were a team of four Mystics and the world's greatest magician. What was actually stopping them? Was it really Rouge's absence?

No. That was bullshit. Zozma had been there when Blue was without Rouge, and his magic was still strong enough to destroy their enemies. Blue had fought the Time Lord and had won. Blue _was_ strong enough! But, damn it, he just didn't think he was. Well, that was what Zozma did best: kicked people in the ass when they needed it. And, by the gods of Mauq himself, he'd kick Blue so hard, he'd be hurting thousands of years from now. He grinned. It was time to do his job.

"We can use magic to do our work for us," the red-headed Mystic said, giving his friends his wildest grin. Ildon blinked profusely; _his_ job was to limit Zozma's stupidity at all costs.

"We don't _have_ any magic, remember?" Ildon pointed out, crossing his arms, "It was used trying to get the damn shard to work." But Zozma's grin didn't lessen. In fact, he looked more determined than ever. And just about as stupid as stupid could get.

"We _didn't_ when we were on the plane of the _living_," Zozma countered, and looked at all of them. The shadows thrown from the glow of the heart made him look dark, sinister. "But we're not on that plane anymore. We're in the Endless Abyss. We're in _Oblivion itself_." And they all knew that Oblivion was the source of all magic. Blue's smile became more genuine. Now he was getting it.

"So unless what's happened hit here, we should be able to access our magic!" Blue finished. But Zozma just chuckled and shook his head.

"No, it's even better than that," he corrected with amusement, "We should be able to tap into _all _sources of power from here. Even the ones Ciato destroyed." Blue's eyes widened. That was quite a claim. But somehow… it almost made sense. Blue looked around again. Maybe there was truth to it.

Fire. Heat. Lava. That was the impression his mind drew up when he thought of _Abyss_. And when he thought _Oblivion_, he thought of a portal. Portals and fire were both sources of power. Different, yet they could be harnessed. Blue just needed to know how. He searched his mind, went over the spells he had learned and the ones Rouge told him about when they returned to Blue's home. The only one he could consider was Power Grab. And that needed a _target_ to work. The Abyss wasn't a target. It simply _was_. Whatever spells Zozma thought would work, he didn't have in his arsenal. But as he thought this, Blue came to another realization. Zozma never said he had to know the spell. _He_ might not have any, but he had a feeling he knew someone who _would_.

It wasn't because this was Zozma's idea that made him turn to the red-headed Mystic. It wasn't because Zozma had really done much to help them through the disastrous end of the world that made him do it, either. It wasn't friendship, or the fact that Zozma was the shining star in Blue's life that made him reach out. It was just one fact, one that Blue hadn't taken too much notice of until now: Zozma was the only one with 'evil' magic. And while he had only heard rumors of such magic, Blue had this feeling, this inner instinct, that told him Zozma had figured out he could probably help them now. It also told him that he'd have to assist Zozma for it to work. And though he never wanted to dabble in evil again, Blue admitted he was curious as to why this feeling was strong.

Taking a breath, Blue indeed turned to Zozma and said, "You know something we don't. What's your plan?" The grin the Mystic wore told him his claim was right. It also told him he wouldn't like whatever it was the little demon was planning.

Blue found he was right with both assumptions when Zozma said, "I'm going to make that heart explode, and _you're_ going to contain that explosion."

"_What!_" Orlouge screeched, as Fuse nearly dropped his blaster and said, "You damn right out of your mind, son!" If he hadn't been so serious on his idea, Zozma might have actually laughed. But he didn't. He simply grinned.

"All right, look. I'm not _really_ aiming to blow the damn place up. But think about it," he explained seriously, and pointed toward the still-throbbing abomination, "The more that thing beats, the more unbearable it's going to get. We need to slow it down, and I have the spells to do it." That caused murmurs and whispers among the group. But only Blue seemed to actually get the bigger picture now.

"What spell?" he asked, and the whispering ceased. Everyone else stared at him, though it was hard to say whether it was to say he was crazy, or just plain stupid.

Zozma's eyes gleamed red for a minute, and he said, "In for a little Sharp Pain?"

"You're actually serious!" Ildon cried, at roughly the same time. When Blue and Zozma both nodded, the green-haired Mystic asked, "Why not use Shadow Net and save yourself that pain, Zozma!" Zozma's grin vanished. Ildon's concern almost touched him. Quietly, he looked away. He tried to pretend he was focusing on the heart.

"Shadow magic isn't strong enough, Ild," Zozma admitted, and now he faced his friend again, "Not much will be. This is the heart of the universe. Only a few spells will actually do anything. Demonic ones, at that." Blue saw Ildon shiver, and couldn't help wanting to call the plan off himself now. Demonic spells often required the sacrifice of one's life force to actually succeed. Not to mention that, until now, he had thought _only_ Espers had restricted access to those spells. He had thought Zozma had learned those spells through theft and translation.

In the end, as much as no one liked it, the plan was agreed upon. Zozma would paralyze the heart and keep it from beating. And when the inevitable time bomb went off, Blue would contain it with a Psychic Prison. He'd also combine that spell with the Stasis Rune, keeping the heart _alive_, even though it was going to explode. And how, Ildon had asked, would he combine the two spells? The Time Lord was generous enough to offer to cast Time Twister on Blue. It all fit together so well. It was almost too terrifying for those who'd be mere spectators.

Blue and Zozma positioned themselves as to having full view of the pulsating heart. Blue took out his father's staff, the one Rouge normally held, and pointed toward the heart. Already, he could feel the old energy waiting to be released. Likewise, he felt the power from his own sword. Reacting to the staff. Like two brothers who'd been apart for too many years…

Blue shook the thought away. Now wasn't the time for that. He had to focus on the plan, on getting his brother back and stopping the heart. It was simple, Zozma had explained. He wouldn't be able to give Blue a signal without breaking the pain, but Blue would know what to look for. As soon as the heart stopped, it was time to use the prison. And when the heart began to actually erupt (or, in Zozma's words, maybe it'd actually speed up), it was time to use the rune. It was a good plan, and it was relatively simple.

But that simplicity was gone when Blue saw how much pain Zozma would go through. The spell was easy enough for the prince to cast. But when he did cast it, a link between the heart and his own heart formed, and then turned black. That black aura surrounded the Mystic, and sucked the life away. Slowly, agonizingly. Zozma screamed, and when he did, Blue rushed himself. He began chanting the spell for the prison immediately, and was relieved that Zozma's magic worked so quickly. Already, the heart was struggling to be free of the paralysis. Blue was ready. And so was the prison he created.

When the orange web solidified around the heart, Blue immediately bent and scrawled the sign of the Stasis Rune into the dirt in front of him. As he did, he chanted again, and felt the staff burn in his hands. Too much magic, too many powerful spells at once. Blue nearly let go. But he couldn't. Zozma was weakening every second. Rouge was lost with every passing moment. Sith had entrusted him with the task. He had to keep going.

At last, the rune burned brightly, first on the ground, and then the burning symbol flew up into the air. The symbol glowed, and immediately, the heart – which was turning a deep crimson and was trembling! – _stopped_. It just… ended. There was no more pulse, no more thundering heartbeat in their heads. Even the heat seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had come. For a long moment, no one could believe it. Had it truly been so simple?

"Did… did you actually do it?" Ildon whispered after minutes of silence. No one answered. At that moment, the heart literally exploded. And the prison nearly cracked apart from it.

The explosion was horrifying to see and hear. It was like some foul beast, some unholy creature from the pits of hell, had come and torn a rift through the heavens, and had been scorched by the unforgiving sun. All around them, the Abyss shivered and fizzled, and the red skies began to darken to black. Lava crashed against the mountains, threatening to spill onto the path and devour them. The ground rumbled, the rocks split apart. And all through it, all they could do was stare at what was left of the heart, crimson ooze slowly sliding off the sides of the still-standing prison.

The prison wouldn't hold for long. As the heart continued to bleed out and peel away, what was left in its wake was a rift into nothingness. That rift grew, a literal black hole with sparks of orange fire licking its edges, spiraling like some insane chainsaw. And as it grew, Blue saw it was sucking the power out of their spells, weakening them. The prison flickered, at first glowing bright orange. Then, that brightness faded, and the webs constituting the prison began to bend inward. The vortex was too strong.

"It's going to blow!" Orlouge screamed, as Fuse took Ildon's arm and said, "_Everyone, on the ground!_" He said it with so much authority, and so much concern, that the others dropped instantly. They dropped to the ground just in time, for as soon as they did, the prison gave way, and the vortex spiraled completely out of control. The fire within was shot everywhere, igniting rock, magma, and everything it could touch. The ground around the heart blew apart as well, rocks flung in random directions from the sheer force of the swirling mass. Blue shut his eyes as rocks collided with mountains, producing cracks so thunderous that it made his teeth rattle.

But just as the plane itself threatened to fall apart… the hell that had broken seemed to stop again. They could still hear the portal whirring, and could feel it tugging the last remaining strands of stability left. But they heard no other cracks of death and destruction, no eruptions of lava. Even the howling winds had died down, leaving the Endless Abyss as nothing more than the barren wasteland it had been before. It was almost peaceful.

"We… we're alive," Zozma managed to croak, as he and Blue slowly stood up. He found his head was hurting and his vision was a bit blurry from what he'd done.

"Look!" he heard the Time Lord shout. And they all turned to where the heart had once been. The portal was now complete; it was spinning and swirling, leading into nothing but the darkest depths of the abyss. But the universe hadn't ended yet. Cautiously, Blue stepped forward. The heat that had stopped him before wasn't there any longer. In fact, it was colder now, with the heart destroyed. Cold enough for them to safely pass and see what they'd just accomplished. Or unleashed.

When they all made it to the small island that held the portal, Blue and Fuse both insisted they check it out first. They were still officers of the law, after all. And no one objected; granted, everyone was exhausted, but no one felt like arguing. And that was best to both of the cops as they walked over. There wasn't even much to see. The portal was quite active… but there wasn't much power leaking from it. In fact, if Blue hadn't personally been there, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Where do you think it leads?" he whispered to his boss, sharing a glance with the older cop. Fuse's lips thinned, and he shrugged, backing away.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Fuse replied grimly, and again, that unusual look of _knowing_ was apparent as he said, "It ain't tugging on my psychic senses like the time-space continuum did, boy. Got any ideas?"

"It's a vacuum. It's sucking out all of the power that's being generated," Blue told him just as gravely, and looked at his boss squarely, "Wherever it leads, if we don't finish the job and reseal it, it's going to absorb whatever's left of the universe. Right now, it's in a lull because of my rune. But it won't last long; my prison certainly didn't." Fuse nodded with understanding. That meant they'd have to jump right in. For some reason, that didn't exactly bother the older cop.

Taking a deep breath, Fuse turned to the rest of the team and said, "All right, troops. Listen up. We got the heart to slow a little, but now we have a bigger issue here. See that portal?" He jerked his thumb behind him, to the swirling mess – to which the others nodded, "Good. Our mission? We're going right into it."

"What!" Ildon cried, truly shocked by the order, "Are you serious! Do you know where that leads!" Fuse's eyes narrowed as he looked at the Mystic. He was normally a decent judge of character. But he didn't think Ildon was a coward.

"Yes, I know where that leads, boy," he replied flatly, and grinned sardonically, "You want out? Now's the time to sit down and stay here." Ildon looked away. He didn't want to back out, but they were suggesting going to the ends of the universe, to a place even the Espers had never been. A place they might never return from.

"I'm going for Rastaban," Ildon said to him with such determination, that Fuse's grin softened, "He deserves to know that Ciato's end will be quick."

"If he hasn't died already," Zozma added, and shivered as he looked at the portal, "I don't think Kylin's been there. But has Ciato?" Ildon couldn't say, but Blue could. He nodded firmly, and the Mystics turned to him. His eyes seemed distant as he returned their worried stares. How did he know?

"Ciato is the reason the universe is such a mess. Where else could he be?" Blue stated, and his voice became bitter as he said, "Rouge must be there, too."

"How in hell do you figure _that!_" Zozma demanded skeptically, shifting his weight to one side, brow perked to look as defiant as possible. Blue snorted softly.

"As much as I hate to admit it, there is a bond between my brother and your fellow prince," Blue said to them, "Before Ciato lost his mind, it was there. And we saw it when Rouge reacted so badly to Ciato's insanity. Somehow, Rouge knew he might be able to find Ciato now that he's just a soul; no body to stop him from searching anymore." But if he succeeded was another story Blue couldn't explain. Zozma and Ildon looked at each other, and then at Orlouge. Ciato had been one of them. If they found him, what should be done? Was he to be killed?

"In any case, we need to go in there just to seal the portal up," the Time Lord said calmly, diverting the group's attention, "The longer we debate Ciato and Rouge's fates, the more unstable Oblivion will become." Fuse agreed, and he took out his blaster, looking at it. He wasn't sure what it would do for him, once he went inside, but at least he had it. He looked up at the others. They all seemed so uncertain.

"Then let's get going," he said, for all of them. He turned to the portal, and took a step. Then he took another.

"Aren't you afraid you'd die?" Zozma finally asked him. His voice sounded so meek, that Fuse stopped. That question sounded like it came from a terrified child, as opposed to a full-grown Mystic. Slowly, Fuse closed his eyes.

"Everyone eventually dies, boy," the cop began seriously, "Yeah, I'm afraid I'll die. I'm also afraid of what'll happen if I _don't_ drag my ass in there. The only way to stop your fear is to face it, though. So, I'm going right up against Death, and he ain't stopping me. Not now, not ever. Not when there's people to protect." Those were brave words. Blue could only smile as he looked at his boss. If Fuse weren't such an idiot, he'd be a Hero himself.

"But what if he does stop you?" Ildon asked grimly. Fuse sighed. If they went in, that might very well be the case. But that wouldn't keep him from trying. He had his reasons, and he'd thought they'd have theirs, too. He finally turned toward them again.

"Then I'll go kicking, screaming, shooting, and fighting," Fuse replied, and said, "Look, I know you're all scared. But we all have reasons to go and fight. Blue has his brother, and I have Silence. And believe it or not, you all have reasons, too. So, are you going to fight for them? Or are you going to stay here and whine?" Without even waiting for an answer, he started for the portal again. It was less than forty feet away from him, and when he was just about to step through, he stopped again and said, "When you make a decision, get your ass in and help me." Then, he jumped right in.

Smiling, and taking out a thin, crystal cane, the Time Lord strolled over to the portal, and just stared for a minute. Fuse had been right. He had a reason to fight, too. He really didn't want Virgil to remember him as the amnesiac, forgetful mess he'd been when his clock was broken. That, and both Virgil and Orlouge deserved a good dinner before they all eventually faded. Laughing, he said, "Well, gentlemen, let's see if fate can stop the Time Lord!" Then, he too jumped in. Orlouge actually laughed, shaking his head.

"That's just like him," he said, and genuinely seemed happy, "Well, if my old friends are going to kill themselves, I'd hate to be left out." Saying something so light-hearted didn't exactly surprise any of the remaining three, but when the Charm Lord actually acted on his words… well, they were more than a little shocked that he felt that way. To one of them, he was an immortal figure in the entire realm of Oblivion. And to the other two, he was a pompous, self-righteous, womanizing idiot who didn't normally give two kicks about another person.

Zozma's lips thinned just a little as he stood, watching, wondering if Orlouge would chicken out and just run away. When his master didn't return, he looked at Ildon and said, "You think we ought to do this, too?"

"Is that a serious question?" Blue retorted in disbelief, as Ildon shrugged and said, "We both are the last remaining Mystic princes left. I'm not getting a _girl_friend, and you're in no way ready for marriage, so why not?" Zozma grinned, and gave his fellow prince a thumbs-up.

"See, it's your logic that always wins, Ildy," the red-headed Mystic commented, and slyly added, "And because you're so damn brilliant, you can jump in first." That part, Ildon fully expected. And he didn't mind it _too_ much. Not if it meant saving Rastaban's soul from Ciato. He shrugged again, and walked toward the swirling portal.

Stopping just once to look at his friend, he smirked and said, "You're still a jackass, and always will be."

"Yeah, see you in _hell_, too, bastard," Zozma replied with just as much amusement in his voice. They gave each other a knowing smile, and then Ildon was gone. Zozma waited for several long seconds with Blue, and then the two looked at each other. He never actually thought he'd be sharing his possible last words with a human, much less a human magician. It was more than a little awkward for him.

"So, are you ready?" he asked, rubbing his hands together as though he were cold. Blue's smile faded, and uncertainty crossed his face.

"To save my brother, yes," Blue said honestly, "To save Oblivion… no." Zozma snorted softly. He shared the sentiments. And if Sith had been faced with the same circumstance – one which they all assumed she must have been – she might not have been ready, either. He just patted the mage's back encouragingly.

"Well, then let's focus on your brother and leave Oblivion to the few who know what they're doing," Zozma told him. Blue understood who he meant: Sith, Aeon, the Time Lord, and Kylin, should the third survive and the fourth actually be found. And while he didn't like leaving the responsibility to an eccentric time-keeper and a grumpy Esper, he did understand that if they failed, there was someone to take their place. He just didn't want to fail.

They both turned toward the portal. It beckoned them in, and Blue already felt his body growing cold just being near it. Wherever it led, he understood his physical body might not make it, even if his soul does. Slowly, he took a deep breath. And he wished Sith had told him everything she could about the Endless Abyss; not just the things she _thought_ might help him. But she had her reasons, and if he lived, he'd eventually ask her about them. If only to keep anyone else from entering this realm.

Zozma was clearly ready before he was, though. The energetic Mystic was practically jogging in place, waiting for Blue to stop _thinking_ and start _doing something_. Blue actually laughed when he realized he was holding the man up, and when he stepped forward, Zozma practically broke out in a full run for the portal. But before the idiot could run right through, Blue said, "Zozma… you knew about the portal, and you knew how to stop it. How did you know?" Zozma glanced back at him, and he understood he asked the wrong question. Quietly, he asked, "Who taught you _evil_ magic?"

Grinning, Zozma said, "Sith did. Just once, about six hundred years ago, and only after I heckled her to do it for about seven weeks straight." Then, he was gone, and he left Blue laughing. Was _that_ another reason Sith hadn't wanted to help them? Because of an annoyance like _Zozma_? Blue shook his head. Why wasn't he surprised Zozma managed to piss off an _Esper_, on top of the Charm Lord himself?

Blue leapt into the portal with no expectations whatsoever, except to have his life end right there and his spirit to go on wandering forever. But when he crossed and felt himself floating, he knew that wouldn't happen. Surely, there was nothing but darkness for now, but he knew he wasn't dead, and he knew he wasn't comatose, either. In fact, he had never felt so alive before. And right then, as he seemed to stay in stasis rather than falling to his doom, _alive_ meant _freezing his ass off_. Because, for all of the heat and scorching in the Endless Abyss, there was nothing but sheer waves of cold here. Maybe Zozma truly had killed the heart, after all.

With nothing else to do, Blue tried to swim to get his body moving. His felt his arms move freely. But he wasn't going anywhere at all. Even in the pitch blackness around him, he could tell he wasn't. There was no air propelled from his arms. There was… nothing at all. He stopped, and thought about this. _Was_ he actually alive? Or had he passed peacefully during the transition into this… wherever this was?

Blue shook his head. That couldn't be right. He felt the cold, and he felt the emptiness around him. Hell, he was _breathing_, for Goddess' sake. He was alive, he just had no idea where he was or why he couldn't move to save his life. So, instead, he tried to focus on getting his eyes adjusted to the dark. Maybe that would provide some clues. Yet, even after ten minutes, all he still saw was the darkness beyond. There were no outlines to be had, nothing to indicate that he _wasn't_ just floating around in nothing.

Confused and now worried, Blue tried the next thing he could think of: "_Zozma!_"

"Blue? You made it?" was the curious response. Blue smiled broadly. They _did_ survive! _That_ was more reassuring than being able to move. If he could actually manage movement, he would've danced around, jumped for joy, and even hugged Zozma just for _confirming_ their existence in this strange, new place. As it was, though, the only logical thing he could do was respond back.

"Yes. Where are we?" he asked, hoping everyone else had been listening, and were close by, as well, "Can anyone else move?"

"Nope," this time, Fuse replied, and he sounded both annoyed and like he expected that, too, "We're just sitting here with our fingers up our noses, son."

"_Sitting?_" Zozma repeated, and laughed, "I'm practically hanging _upside-down_. I _wish_ I was _sitting_." Blue imagined he must've had a nice headache developing right then. It probably served the little moron right, too.

"Zozma, shut up and be serious," came Ildon's bored drawl, and then a sigh, "I'm to believe we may have been trapped here."

"Gee, what makes you think _that?_" Zozma replied sarcastically, and Blue couldn't see him roll his eyes, "Oh, wait, is it because of all the _not being able to SEE anything_ bullcrap?" Blue just sighed softly as Ildon said something completely incoherent, and possibly in another language. He wasn't in the mood to listen to the two bicker. So, he did the _next_ logical thing on his mind.

"Time Lord, tell me we can fix this," he said flatly, and that shut up the two princes above him. He also heard Fuse laughing, and thought he heard a chuckle from Orlouge. Obviously, his friends were beginning to lose their minds.

"Well…" the Time Lord began, and Blue knew right away this wouldn't be a good sign, "It may be that we're in a realm that _might not_ exist." Yeah, that kind of nonsense really wasn't good. Blue blinked, trying to figure out just what _might not exist_ was supposed to mean. To him, either a realm was _there_, or it just _wasn't_.

"You mean like the World that Never Was?" Zozma asked hopefully, beaming, "Oh! I heard of that place! A bunch of bastards rule there, don't they? Think Ciato destroyed them yet!"

"_Zozma!_" Ildon snapped furiously, his voice ripping across like thunder, "Shut up for five minutes and let us _figure this out!_" Blue could more feel than see the crease in Zozma's brows.

"Hey, wasn't _I_ the one who got the damn heart blown up in the first place?" he pointed out indignantly. Then he seemed to realize that _that_ particular fact was what led them to this place to begin with. And that he might not want to be so proud of that. But at least it was something Ildon _hadn't_ done.

It was just too bad Ildon wasn't impressed. Sighing, the younger Mystic said, "At least you can _shut up_."

"Why don't you both shut up before I mace you," Fuse suggested threateningly. That silenced any other rebellions the two could bring. And when he was sure neither would spout any more useless dribble, he turned to Blue and said, "Now, I know this won't make sense, but the Time Lord's right. Where we are now isn't just a different realm. It's a different dimension, one no one's ever been to before." If he didn't sound so grim, Blue might not have taken the man so seriously. Blue looked up – and still couldn't see Fuse.

"There are more than one dimension?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of his reasoning. Fuse nodded, hoping he was descending towards Blue's level.

"There are tons of 'em, and we only know of one," Fuse began, not even caring if this was something Blue should've already known, "The _third dimension_, as it was. Now, no one knows how many dimensions there actually are – not even scientists can explain what number it stops at, and some think the number goes on and on.

"But sometimes, when things warp and twist around, they can actually split apart and create another dimensional rift, sort of like when we travel between worlds," Fuse said, and he sounded more like a teacher than an overzealous cop, "We're not sure what causes it. Could be energy transference, or it could be something else. We'll be living proof if we live through it.

"Now, we know what the third dimension is – that's the one we can perceive the best," Fuse continued patiently, "And _space-time_ is considered the fourth dimension; even though _space_ defines the third dimension, _time_ is considered the fourth because it goes beyond the scope of spatial differences. My guess is, when we blew that heart open, we unleashed so much raw energy that the laws of physics could not possibly grasp what to do with it. So, it created a black hole with dimensions out of that scope just to hold all of the power we released." And when they jumped in, they jumped right into the dimension that was created. But why couldn't they move? Why were they alive?

When Blue asked this, Fuse said, "It's a relatively new dimension. I don't have the answers, but we may be _frozen_ because we weren't figured into the equations physics made." That didn't make much sense to Blue, of course, but he decided to just go with it. Fuse almost seemed to know what he was talking about.

"Wait, since _when_ did _physics_ develop a sentient entity!" Zozma asked, trying and failing to crease his brows again. Fuse snorted. Haven't they dealt with that since entering the Endless Abyss? Or perhaps even before then?

"Since physics dictated everything, including the shit that's coming out of your mouth right now," Fuse replied simply, and pretended not to hear the obscenities coming out of Zozma's mouth.

Before Blue could fully wrap his head around what Fuse actually said, there was a loud blast of noise, similar to a blaring siren when there's something to be warned about in the streets. It was so shrill, Blue was forced to try covering his ears to shield himself – and when he did so, his arms slammed into nothing and would not budge! The pain was jarring, on top of the shock of hearing such a noise. And before he could recover, there was a sudden flash of light that blinded him, made him see stars. He heard people screaming, unsure of whether it was himself, his friends, or people from beyond this crazy dimension. Or if it was real at all.

When his eyes finally recovered, and his ears stopped ringing in protest, he saw that what was once black was now a swirling rainbow of colors before his eyes; very painful colors, at that. Vibrant reds and brilliant blues, sparkling purples and electric greens twisted around and around, turning the black sky into a portrait that was just short of insanity. It hurt almost as much as hearing the siren, except that Blue couldn't shut his eyes. Even when he did, the brightness of the color penetrated his eyelids. He felt his skull wincing at it all, and that had to be impossible!

"Holy hounds of hell!" Zozma yelled, his voice sounding small with the chaos that was erupting around them, "That hurts, you bastard!" Blue hadn't actually expected that to get any sort of response, but to his surprise, someone did answer. At first, it was just a rumble in the air, like soft thunder that was quite a ways away. Then, that rumbling grew louder, until it suddenly sounded like laughter. Maniacal, fanatical, insane laughter that could not be measured in the scope of a normal, functioning mind.

"My, I never thought I'd hear you again," said the voice, and it laughed hysterically again, "Is that you… Zozma?" Blue turned his head – just barely, at that! – and managed to look at Zozma's face. The man was stark white now; the coloring to his skin abandoned him in the horror he faced in hearing that voice. And after a quick minute, Blue understood why. That insanity, that mocking tone… that was no madman laughing at them.

That voice belonged to none other than Ciato. Or what had once been Ciato.

-(End Chapter)

After traversing the Endless Abyss, Blue and his friends finally found the heart of Oblivion. And what a horrifying sight, indeed! But when they need to stop the heart to keep it from destroying the world, what do they do? Why, they leave it to Zozma, of course. After he comes up with an elaborate plan to destroy the heart, Zozma and Blue combine their magic to keep it from taking out Oblivion itself. It works… but now our heroes find themselves in an entirely new and unexplored dimension. How did they wind up there, and what will they face? Has Ciato truly returned, and what does he have planned for them? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	50. The Web that Poisons the Mind

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and guess what? They said that they want to make Ciato his own game now. They'll do it as soon as they get the money they lost making Unlimited Saga.

"Well, now, you don't need to be so silent," the voice continued, causing ripples up Blue's spine. Blue himself wanted to run, to hide somewhere, and he had a feeling everyone else shared the sentiment as well. Ciato sounded excruciatingly close, yet he was so distant, too. "I thought we were friends."

"We're not even brothers anymore!" Zozma yelled, his voice loud enough to shatter through the blaring sirens and stop the chaos for a minute. The brilliance of the rainbows around them ceased, seemed to dim a bit. Blue risked another look at Zozma; at first, the red-headed Mystic seemed more confused than scared. He looked around, trying to find any physical proof of their foe – to which there was none. Gaining confidence, Zozma continued, "Why don't you come out and fight, you coward?"

"_I'm_ a coward?" Ciato asked, half-amused, half-insulted, "I didn't hide for two hundred years while Jyggelaag's forces slaughtered us." Zozma backed down instantly. Blue swore he saw the man's shoulders slump. If they got through this, he'd remember to ask Zozma what 'Jyggelaag' was.

As it was, Ildon was already rushing to his fellow prince's defense by the time Blue realized the thought had passed. Ildon, who was possibly the most agile of the princes, broke through the binds holding him in place, and he drew his sword toward an invisible foe, "We _all_ ran once Chateau Augille was taken. Don't you dare blame that on Zozma!" Blue shivered, hearing a deep chuckle from somewhere far away. It seemed to shake the voids, and he heard crumbling stone. Though, of course, he had no idea where it could've come from.

"At least you and I tried to defend the kingdom," Ciato reminded him, and Ildon's arm lowered a fraction. That was true enough, and even now, six hundred years later, the memories haunted Ildon. The fire that burned their homes, the screams, the blood… and then swathing a path of death just to reach the mad demon himself. Where had the Espers been _then?_ The mere thoughts made the poor Mystic tremble. Blue couldn't stand it. He struggled, wanting to make Ildon remember the _truth_: that he did all he could.

Knowing exactly where to cut the wound deeper, Ciato added, "Poor Rastaban lost his power trying to keep both his tower and Zozma's safe." That was more than enough for Ildon.

"_Enough!_" the green-haired Mystic yelled furiously, eyes flashing red, head thrashing as he tried to find any sign of the white-haired adversary, "_Come out and die, cur!_" Blue knew his anger would make him careless. And so did Zozma.

"Ciato, if we're such cowards, why are _we_ standing here, and you're hiding in shadow?" Zozma asked him, trying to direct the focus of the entire group so that Ildon didn't do anything stupid. It worked, to a certain extent. Ildon did look over at him curiously, but the damned bastard still had his sword out.

As for Ciato, he seemed to be considering the question before answering it. Considering, of course, to mean whether he _should_ answer or not. They were, despite the centuries they spent together, enemies now. He was just going to kill them; why supply an answer when dead men no longer cared? If only they hadn't been so foolish, perhaps they could've seen behind the madness and learned the truth. They could help reshape reality and rid the worlds of the filth that had risen in the timeline. But they chose not to. They let their memories get in the way.

In the end, he decided it didn't matter. Quietly, he said, "If you were to see me, you would kill me and end the work I'm doing." Words of a madman, Blue thought. If he could've moved, he would've drawn his sword just as Ildon had.

"You mean the destruction," Blue corrected, his calm voice hiding a deeper fury that Ciato in no way missed, "You're damning the world into a new level of hell."

"Says the man who would've become the lord of Hell himself!" Ciato laughed, and Blue felt that fury breaking its cap, "If not for Rouge, then you would have fallen far. How deep does a brother's love go, though? Why _did_ he choose an imaginary brother over his life?"

"_Shut up!_" Blue screamed suddenly, his body shaking, "Where is my brother!" He had tried to hold back the quiver in his voice, but he knew he'd failed. Ciato just found his weakness. He waited for the talons that'd tear that weakness apart.

"Rouge is safe," was all Ciato would supply. It wasn't enough for the frustrated magician. For all he knew, 'safe' was the same as 'dead.' Especially if that safety lay in Ciato. Blue tested the binds again. They were still too strong.

"Let me go and face me," Blue growled, pulling with all his might against the unseen forces keeping him still, "Give my brother back." It felt like Ciato was just mocking him, laughing at him. It made him fight harder. But every attempt seemed to drain him of his strength.

"Blue, stop," he heard the Time Lord say gently, and though he wanted to comply, he couldn't. Rouge was in danger, damn it! But the good Lord was firm, "_Blue!_"

"He has my brother!" Blue cried out, twisting himself to look up at the older Mystic. His eyes were pleading, and it was a look that made the Time Lord sigh. He had seen too many men lose the people they loved the most. He was tired of seeing the same fate over and over.

With an ease that none of the others had, the Time Lord took out his cane and tapped it on a floor that wasn't truly there. Blue heard a _clink_, and then saw the Time Lord stand. His cape billowed behind him, giving him the illusion of blue wings. Shaking off the stiffness from being trapped in stasis, he looked around and said, "Ciato, as the Lord of Time, I command you come out now." If only it could be so simple. Ciato laughed hysterically, an almost demonic, guttural sound.

"I'm sorry, Time Lord," he replied after a moment, and there was a bright flash of red all around, hurting their vision, "But I no longer follow the constrictions of your dimension." His voice started warping, and with it, the realm they were in. The colors brightened again, twisting and turning, dimming and then blazing with life. And alongside that, the mortals trapped within began to twist as well. Blue felt his insides being turned in a way that was not normal, and felt ill immediately. He heard Zozma retching, and knew Ildon was suffering. Fuse was most likely dead, if not mortally scarred.

"Stop it!" Orlouge yelled fiercely, having the same strength the Time Lord possessed, "Ciato, I am your Lord! I demand you cease this!" The laughter continued with more vigor. The force behind it grew so powerful that as soon as the wave hit Orlouge, he screamed, stumbled, and doubled over in agony. For all of his power and age, it did no good.

"Demons have no lords!" Ciato reminded him, and a follow-up came in the form of knocking the Time Lord flat on his ass. The blow sent the poor man flying, and he slammed multiple times into walls unseen. Blue smelled blood, and prayed neither Lord had been killed. Without them… hell, there was no sense deluding himself. They had no chance even if the Time Lord lived.

But the bloody assault Blue expected did not come yet. Instead, when the Time Lord recovered, barely able to stand, Ciato merely laughed. It was a shrill sound, sent shivers up the spines of everyone gathered. Even Fuse, with his carefully-honed nerves, couldn't resist the urge to turn tail and run. Except, of course, that there was nowhere to run to. So, Fuse did what he did best in that circumstance. He took out his pitiful blaster, aimed it at nothing in particular.

"Shut up or I'll shoot your tongue out!" Fuse yelled, and surprisingly, the laughter ceased, "Damn Mystics always got to flaunt their power in your face. Silence did that once; there's a reason his name is _Silence_." Unfortunately, now wasn't the best time for Fuse's branch of humor. Blue stared at his boss flatly, wondering just how it was the man managed to live thus far.

"Oh? And you think your self-proclaimed skill can silence _me?_" Ciato asked him, sounding so horribly amused. Fuse admitted quietly to himself that he knew he couldn't necessarily stop Ciato. But, damn it, everyone else was losing their nerve and their best Mystics were being destroyed. He had to do something. A bluff couldn't possibly hurt.

"Just ask Silence himself!" Fuse boasted, brows creased as he tried to quickly think of a way to keep Ciato distracted long enough for the two Lords to get back on their feet. Snickering, he added, "Not that, you know, he'd _tell_ you." Considering that he was mute, after all.

The humor was lost, though. Because, unlike Fuse, Ciato wasn't bluffing and didn't need to. He had many ways to hurt the people who'd stop him, and he'd use every single one if he had to. In a place unseen to everyone, a smile crept across the sly Mystic's face. "Wouldn't he?" Ciato asked, in a tone so quiet that it scared Fuse. The cop had a feeling Ciato managed to get to Silence, somehow. And, in a short moment, he found he was right. The lights dimmed, throwing the realm into near-black. Then it brightened immediately, and suspended in mid-air was Silence. He was chained to an invisible wall, and looked far worse than Fuse had seen him. Ciato must've kept him for some time. But what for?

"What in hell do you take me for!" Fuse screamed when he saw his companion, "Let Silence go, you son of a bitch!" More laughter ensued. Ciato had his ways to win.

"It wasn't my fault he figured out my plan long before you did, you stupid cop," Ciato replied, feigning an innocence that made Fuse twitch, "Oh? You didn't think he could? You severely underestimate your own partner, Fuse." Fuse's mouth dropped, not knowing what to think. For all intense and purpose, the shift in reality should've made him a mere phantom in Silence's memories. Yet the Mystic somehow remembered him.

Looking from wherever he thought Ciato was, to the chained Mystic, Fuse gently called, "Silence?" Silence raised his head – his hair fell in messy locks around his pale face, and there was a stream of blood flowing down his cheek. He tried to issue a smile.

'_Fuse?_' he asked, in that weird telepathic power of his, '_Fuse! You are alive!_'

"Damn it, man, what did you do to get yourself trapped here!" Fuse asked him angrily. But Silence knew that, underneath that fury, was the terror that he'd been hurt so badly. It was practically making the cop shake to see him like this.

'_I mentioned you two days ago to Doll, and she didn't remember who you were,'_ Silence told him, his voice weakening as his life dwindled with every second, '_No one did. I knew something must've happened, and so I went to Fascinaturu to ask for the Charm Lord's help in finding you. But… I learned none of the Princes or the Lord himself were there any longer. I knew what that meant, and went through every world I could to find clues._'

"He was quite a thorn in my side, too, considering I never met him before," Ciato commented darkly, "He found the truth in Omble, where shadows will tell all and lie none. He caught me quickly, once he found the door to my dimension." Fuse could guess the rest. But he couldn't believe it! Silence figured it out, and went in alone! Man had guts, that much was certain.

"And you chained a fellow Mystic like an animal!" Ildon cried, and Blue saw a fiery blaze of anger in the man's eyes as he spoke, "Ciato, that is unforgivable!" From where he sat, Ciato looked down at Ildon, his own eyes gleaming in the darkness. He wasn't about to be lectured by a lesser-ranked baby.

"His rank is nearly non-existent. He should be lucky he's alive," Ciato reminded him, and something jerked Silence's head up. Ildon shook his head. He hated humans, but not even he could conceive of that level of cruelty.

"Rank or not, we're not savages," the green-haired Mystic spat indignantly. Ciato wanted to laugh. In the end, Mystics were just pompous asses who thought they were better than everyone else. Even Virgil had to admit to that one.

But even so, Mystics had their limits for cruelness and inhumanity. Ciato's had obviously disappeared. He finally did laugh. Ildon was just pathetic. Pretending to care was one thing, but actually enforcing compassion? No one controlled him any longer. And he would make sure no one ever did. Sighing deeply, he said, "Ildon, you make me laugh. Don't you remember why Mystics came to be? To dominate the lesser ranks. To ensure the balance of magic runs in their favor. To shape the world in their eyes, and not to the eyes of the pathetic mortals we're forced to tolerate."

"You're wrong!" Ildon shouted desperately, as Fuse growled, "It's that backwards thought that makes Espers like Sith spring out and kill you, boy." Ciato's laughter ceased for a moment, and he thought hard about that. He had heard rumors, of course. He had seen her battles of long past, too. She was impressive… but easily crippled.

"Sith? She is just another thorn waiting to be plucked," Ciato replied easily, waving the issue away, "In the end, she too will fall when I unravel her timeline."

"_No!_" Blue yelled, as the Time Lord said, "You can't! She will not survive another unraveling!" The care they all placed for the old Esper was just delicious. Ciato grinned, tapping his fingers on the arms of his chair. They all seemed so small to him, so insignificant. No, not even Espers could reach him where he was.

"I wonder how all of the worlds will fare when their legendary hero is destroyed?" Ciato pondered aloud, almost innocently. But that cruel tone never once left him. He chuckled and said, "What do you think, Silence? Do you believe we would live?"

'_I believe you are a madman and an abomination! I only wish Sith could have come to destroy you like the other monsters she's slain!_' Silence declared furiously. That earned him a sharp shock that sent him physically screaming in pain, the first time anyone had ever heard him speak. The agony lasted only a minute; the scars would be there for a lifetime. When it was done, Silence was gasping for air.

"Foolish child. You know better than to go against your superiors," Ciato scolded. Silence growled, shivering as he tried to muster his strength. He was fading fast. The only reason he stayed conscious was because he saw Fuse was right there, and paralyzed by Ciato's evil.

'_I respect only the people who took me in when I left that cursed prison we call Fascinaturu!_' Silence retorted bravely, despite his wounds. Another shock, stronger than before, followed. Another agonized scream came, one that Fuse almost couldn't bear. Silence had wonderful will, but he would break, and he would break too soon.

"You truly are nothing more than a toy, meant to be played with and broken," Ciato spat, narrowing his eyes, "Do you truly believe humans can _love_ you? Do you think they'll see past what you truly are? A product of vanity and beauty?" The shock grew in force, and Silence wanted nothing more than to die, to fade. To let it all disappear.

"_Shut your goddamn mouth!_" Fuse roared, and fired three shots into nothingness. To him, he was firing in completely random directions. But somewhere, in the same place but in a higher dimension, Ciato was nearly hit. It was enough to break his concentration over Silence, and it ended the voltage to Silence's frail body.

"He's gone too far!" Zozma called, as Fuse easily slipped his bond and ran to where Silence was, "We have to heal Silence, but no human spell works!" Fuse wasn't listening at the moment. He was too busy tugging at the chains, trying to free his companion. At first, the chains wouldn't give. But Fuse was relentless. He kept on trying, kept pulling until his muscles corded.

Ciato couldn't focus as strongly again, but he didn't need to. The damage was done. He chuckled, and then laughed hysterically as he said, "What a pathetic sight you are, copper."

"I'm not giving up," Fuse snarled, but had to stop to catch his breath, "Silence, listen to me, okay? I ain't leaving until I know you're going to be okay. I'll get you out. Just hang on!" Silence opened his eyes, though his bangs covered one of them. The visible one was not red like Fuse would've thought. It was blue, a gentle blue.

'_I believe in you… Fuse…_' Silence said weakly, and there was such hope in his voice. Such happiness that Fuse was trying to help him. It made Ciato feel sick. Love… it felt like such an empty word to him, a word the gods had made to torture him.

"Why do you persist in trying to establish bonds with these humans, Silence?" Ciato asked quietly, and all of the Mystics looked up; Blue did so as well, though no one could see where the madman was hiding. Ciato continued, "Haven't these pitiful creatures proven again and again that they are worth nothing?"

'_You're… wrong… Ciato,_' Silence replied gently. But his strength wasn't there. Damn it all. Even as he was dying, he sounded so calm. There was no anger in him. Just like there hadn't been when Fuse had been such an ass to him. Fuse tried the chains again. This time, one of them came apart.

"Humans aren't the problem, Ciato! We are!" Zozma called in frustration, hoping to help buy Silence some time, "We always act like we're so awesome, but in the end, we're no better than them. We just have magic." He could feel Ciato's attention turning to him. There had to be more convincing him. Desperate, Zozma said, "Remember when you were new? I told you 'don't ever try hurting humans.' Remember why? We can really break them, Ciato. Do you really want to do that!" More silence followed, save for Fuse's growling over the second chain. Was it working?

"Humans mean nothing to me," Ciato replied bitterly, "Love… what in hell does the word mean? Does it come from what humans call a heart? Or is it bred from fear?"

"Nothing defines love, not even between Mystics and humans," the Time Lord reminded him. But as the Lord spoke, he noticed Orlouge had become increasingly quiet on the matter. Though he was speaking to Ciato, the Time Lord tilted his head toward his friend. What was going on in Orlouge's mind?

He found out quickly enough. When Ciato spoke again, it was no longer aimed toward Silence. It was now aimed at his former master: Orlouge himself. "But where does it come from? Tell me, _Lord_ Orlouge, do your precious mistresses love you? Or do they all fear what you'd do to them?" The Time Lord understood the man's silence, and looked back again. The Charm Lord seemed to have lost several shades of coloring, seemed much older than he had been moments ago. He shivered, but couldn't deny the truth.

"Most of them fear me," Orlouge admitted, looking away, "Only one truly loved me."

"And now she's turned that love to a pathetic human magician," Ciato spat venomously, and snickered, "Ah, what was his name? It was Blue, wasn't it?" Neither Blue nor Orlouge answered. Orlouge, because he had made a serious mistake and had neglected Lion. Blue, because he had never known her relationship had gone so far. Was that why she refused to leave Fascinaturu? Blue dared a look at the older Mystic. The look on Orlouge's face said that it probably was. Blue shivered. Was he being used?

"Yes, Blue, you are," Ciato said coyly, using Blue's doubts as fuel, "You are being used by the horrible monsters you fear whenever you see Lion. Did you actually think she could love _you?_" Blue wanted to shut his eyes and drown out that horrendous voice. Lion had liked him well enough, and they had dated twice. She invited him to Fascinaturu a few times, had even shown him some of the Chateau. He shivered again, wishing he hadn't met the princess.

"Ciato, enough!" Orlouge finally said, feeling sympathy for the young mage, "I understand you feel bitter and hurt because of me. But stop taking it out on your brothers and the universe! You're going to destroy everything!"

"And from the ashes, I will rebuild it anew," Ciato reminded him gently, and the lights softened accordingly, "A world free from pain. Free from the darkness of your world, free from the clutches of Espers and demons. A world where I rule its every shape and moment." More words from a mind twisted beyond repair. Blue was shaking now. Such a world was impossible; he remembered how battered Sith's castle had been, and how the civilizations of Shingrow and of Sei's legacy had crumbled utterly. No rule was absolute. Ciato's would be no different.

"You would build a world corrupt with indulgence, just like Fascinaturu," Orlouge said quietly, and Ciato stopped for a minute. In his throne, Ciato reeled back, not expecting such admittance from his former lord. Was it possible that Orlouge knew his own flaws all along? Was that why he wasn't surprised Ciato was mirroring him? Taking a deep breath, Orlouge said, "Ciato, I have done the same thing, bringing forth the vampiric properties the Mystics have now possessed. I too wanted to shape the world in my favor. Such things are mistakes. Do not create another vile world like myself!" He sounded so genuine, so pleading. It was quite unlike the Orlouge Ciato had grown to hate. Ciato laughed. It was just too funny.

"_You_ are teaching _me_ about morality?" Ciato asked him, his voice bordering again on hysteria, "Orlouge, you amaze me. You, who have kidnapped hundreds of women and turned them into your slaves! You, who lock us Princes in like we're nothing!"

"He has a point. I'll have to eventually book you for kidnap and cruelty," Fuse unhelpfully added. He dropped when Silence moved enough to kick him. Orlouge and the others simply ignored him.

"I know I was wrong," Orlouge said firmly, looking away from them all, "I knew I became a corrupted Lord. Alas, it appears to be a fate for all Mystic Lords, from the time of the Beginning, to the present we live in." He looked back at Ciato, directly at him even though the Charm Lord couldn't truly see him. His eyes blazed as he said, "It is a fate I promised I would never subject my Princes to." Ciato's brow perked. Was that his excuse now? It sounded so pitiful, so empty. But only to Ciato.

To Ildon and to Zozma, it explained much. They both turned to Orlouge, and Ildon said, "Is… is this true, my lord?" Orlouge nodded, a distant look in his eyes.

"Sith would know far more than myself. She slain the first Mystic Lord in history," Orlouge told them all, calmly, "A lord who was, by her account, as twisted as I became. The ones who served her subsequently became just as corrupt, and the succession onto the thrones of Madness continued on. I was no exception, though I retained enough sanity to never wish this onto the others.

"Imagine my worry when _you_ four entered my court. I knew then that one of you would eventually inherit the throne," Orlouge explained sadly, and everyone was listening now, even Ciato, "I did not know whom it would be, so instead of choosing and being wrong, I simply kept you all on a leash. I asked Virgil for help; he said successions must be made or the throne will make it for us. No Mystic can rule forever." Ildon and Zozma visibly shook, and Ciato leaned as far out of his throne as he could without falling off. Was that the truth? Was Orlouge simply trying to protect them? Perhaps he wasn't as mad as they thought.

Snorting, shaking his head at the story, Zozma said, "Obviously, o great and mighty Charm Lord, it didn't work." Orlouge's face became grim. In truth, he hadn't expected it would. He was just hoping to hold out long enough for the Espers to do something about him.

"To think it would have would speak far more madness on my account," Orlouge told him with a weak smile, "I did not know how to rid our race of the poison of darkness. But one Esper does, and I had hoped to beg her to do so."

"Sith?" Blue asked. Orlouge nodded.

"She had thought she cleansed the world of our madness when she felled the first Lord of Mystics, thousands of years ago," Orlouge began quietly, "Yet through some sick twist of fate, the severed woman remained. Though she could not assume complete control – as Fascinaturu and other Mystic settlements had been made by the time she resurfaced – she had a new plan. To poison the other Lords and make them serve her in retaliation. It nearly worked." The story sounded familiar to Zozma, but it'd been so long since he heard them. His mother had died before he was even two hundred, and that was the last he'd heard.

"What failed?" he asked, brow arched. Orlouge smiled again.

"She garnered no help from many of the other Lords," he said simply, "Only the few that had served under Sith. Even then, they betrayed her. Virgil was so remote that she never found him, and Time Lord escaped thanks to Kylin. As for myself…" Blue understood the rest.

"You took the poison so that your Princes wouldn't need to," Blue whispered. Orlouge nodded, eyes closed. It destroyed so much of his humanity. Only the traces of the same madness showing up through Ciato brought him back. Ciato, whom he had raised like a son for so many centuries…

"Mystics are ruthless as a race, but none of us find fault with the past," Orlouge stated, "There was no need to cause a catastrophe that would end the universe. Not for one Mystic's personal vendetta." Blue understood Orlouge's choices, and wondered how much worse the man would've been if he'd submitted to this Mystic Lord. Judging by Sith's own world, Blue found he didn't want to know. Most Mystics were corrupted enough without aid.

For Ciato, the story had far more impact than anyone thought. His eyes widened, watered, and his whole body shook as he sat in that throne. And when Orlouge finished the story, time seemed to freeze for Ciato. It was like he was splitting apart; the somewhat-good side of him wanted to come back and hear the truth. But that madness, that absolute insanity that had developed from the Celestial Terminal… it didn't want to disappear like that ultimate Mystic had.

"You… you nearly killed yourself?" Ciato asked, and this time, everyone noticed the change in his tone. He sounded like his old self again; albeit, he was scared and bewildered. Blue saw Orlouge relax. Was this his intention?

"I was not always the madman you fear," Orlouge reminded him gently, "It has been centuries, so you may not remember a time when I was fair or decent."

"I know I sure as hell don't," Zozma added, and received a nudge from Ildon that almost made him fall down, into the black abyss far below. Orlouge ignored him, perhaps hadn't even heard the remark. He kept looking up to where Ciato sat – whether he knew if he was seeing Ciato was another matter.

"Fascinaturu was but a child, I having been in power only for two-hundred and thirty years before you appeared, Ciato," Orlouge said, "Zozma was your caretaker until you were used to the Chateau. Do you remember?" Ciato's pupils became tiny as he tried to remember. Yes… he remembered being before the throne, looking up at Orlouge with the same terror he felt now. He was just a child himself. But that fear disappeared, because he was named Second Prince. He finally found a home.

"It all used to be so beautiful," Ciato whispered, and then he clutched his head in sudden pain. It was reflected as the realm around them all rocked, the lights flashing dangerously, and then dimming again. It went nearly black. Blue watched with renewed concern. When nothing else happened, he looked at the others. They were similarly affected.

"What's happening?" Blue asked, as pieces of what appeared to be rock cascaded down, falling into nothingness. Silence looked up, still weak.

'_Ciato's mind was split when he reached the terminal. He doesn't know which side he truly is,_' Silence told them all, and they looked from Ciato, to Silence, '_I wonder if part of him wanted Fascinaturu the way it was before you took the poison, Orlouge_.'

"Possible. It was just starting to enter the seeds of darkness when I joined the Court," Ildon replied grimly, looking up, "Ciato… You're still a murderous bastard, but don't you dare give up. Remember who you are!" Ciato grunted, his head throbbing as the others spoke to him. Their words… he was having increased trouble understanding their words. He was losing control to that same madness again.

"Second prince… I was second prince," Ciato said, as much to himself as to the others, "I remember seeing it all… it happened so quickly, in less than a year… the roses wilted, the thorns grew… all of the light went black. We all… we all changed."

"It was my doing, Ciato," Orlouge reminded him, and Ciato looked down, "I took the poison to protect you all. I don't regret what happened… I simply regret that it failed so badly." Regret… yes, Ciato felt regret. He felt anger, depression, hatred, all of these things he aimed at himself for so long. For not being good enough to be the First Prince, for only making it as commander to Orlouge's demonic army, for only being the Bat Knight. The other princes, as far as he thought, were more desirable in the court.

"You… protected us," Ciato whispered, and Orlouge prayed he would hold onto that shred of humanity, "All of this time… why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell us about the poison? The corruption?"

'_Madness is something that can't possibly be explained,_' Silence told him, and Ciato looked at him squarely, '_It would be like asking you what made you shatter the terminal._' Ciato fell silent. He remembered bits and pieces of it all, but it felt vague. As though it were a phantom, something he couldn't believe he saw. And for a while, he didn't believe it. Then, someone had come… someone had come through the darkness to remind him. And to tell him to fight the madness off.

"Someone begged me to tell them why I let the darkness in," Ciato finally said, his voice now sounding level with the others. He sounded… sane. There was an audible snap, and then the lights blared, died down, revealed the truth about the realm they were in. Now, the sky was an inky blue with stars twinkling in the sky. There was no ground to speak of, yet they remained where they all stood. Except that, above them was a throne. And on that throne was Ciato. With torn wings and torn armor, it was Ciato. Quietly, he said, "That same someone tried to tell me what happened wasn't my fault. I didn't believe him."

"What happened to my brother?" Blue demanded, not unkindly, "It was him, wasn't it? Where is he?" Ciato bit his lip, and then snapped his fingers. Rouge appeared beside him, though he seemed to be sleeping. And he was ghostly, hardly substantial. There was a look of concern in Ciato's eyes.

"As nothing more than a lost soul, he is no more than a phantom on the wind right now," Ciato replied, "He can't even talk anymore, though I have no idea why we'd keep him." He hardly noticed the fact that everyone's eyes widened as he spoke. At least, not until he looked down and saw their horrified reactions. It was then he realized what he had said.

"We?" Fuse repeated questioningly. Ciato nodded slowly, reluctant to answer. But he'd been held for so long, and seeing that raw energy in the portal… yes, it was best to explain before he did any more damage. Even if it meant he'd be killed.

"I should have tried to fight harder, and I should have tried reaching out," Ciato began, but there was no pity in his voice, "When we saw that portal… something inside of me snapped. I'm still not sure what it was. It was fighting to get out, to destroy everything. It didn't want to be paralyzed in space. And… like a coward, I gave in.

"Before I even knew what was happening, time collapsed. I awoke in this realm with no idea how I had gotten here, except that the terminal was the key," he continued seriously, and Blue didn't doubt him, "But when I went to the remains of the terminal, it… happened again."

"What happened?" Ildon asked him, and Ciato looked at his fellow prince. The anger that normally colored Ildon seemed to be gone, at least for a few precious moments. Would this man even believe him? Would any of them?

"Madness. Corruption. Something telling me that I'd been given the chance to reshape time," Ciato replied, and the look on Orlouge's face told him the Charm Lord believed him, "I told that something that I wanted to go home. Then, it just laughed. But when _it_ laughed… so did I. It was a sound so unholy; I never thought it'd come from me." His eyes frosted over for a long second, as though he were reliving the memory. He shivered, and looked toward Rouge. The poor soul had so little time left. He used so much energy trying to pull Ciato out.

"How could the terminal do that? Isn't it some sort of holy instrument?" Zozma asked, brow arched as he looked at the Time Lord. The Mystic in question looked from Ciato, to Orlouge. He nodded without so much as even looking at the red-head.

"There is a reason mortals are not allowed to see it," the Time Lord said gently, "Inside is a crystal, what we call the 'heart' of our dimension. This crystal brings out the true nature in the person wielding the terminal." Blue understood now. When Ciato, who was so angry and bitter for being sent to space, touched the terminal… he literally went insane. But how did Rouge know this?

"So he's basically not even responsible for what he's done?" Ildon asked, that anger edging back into his voice, "But… but Rastaban!"

"On the contrary, he is very much responsible," Orlouge admitted sadly, and Ildon stared, "But we cannot possibly punish him. The only one to pass that judgment is Sith herself."

"_Why!_" Ildon argued. Blue wanted to warn him not to get too angry, lest the same madness devour him, too. But Orlouge shook his head, silenced his Fourth Prince. For Ildon, this was an injustice that wasn't deserved.

"Because Sith is _the Esper Lord_," Orlouge told him, as though that settled the argument, "She will know whether Ciato can be saved. And if not… then he knows what will happen." Ildon's anger vanished. That meant that if _Sith_ found him at fault, Ciato wouldn't even go to hell. He'd go to someplace far, far, _far_ worse.

"_NO!_" Ciato screamed, and everyone looked up at him. His eyes were bulging, his breathing labored and ragged. He was clutching where his heart was, skin pale and face beading with sweat. He was trembling as he said, "No… no, no, no…"

"Ciato!" Blue called, as Ildon said, "What the hell is happening!"

"Ciato is not the only thing occupying Ciato's mind," the Time Lord reminded them all gravely, and Blue felt the air grow cold, "Whoever… or whatever is there with him just heard judgment. And they are not pleased." Blue blinked, looking from the Time Lord, to Ciato. The man looked far worse than ever, and was growing increasingly pained with each second. He was twitching, trying not to retch. His wings were shaking so violently that they threatened to fall off. And his eyes… they were so red.

"Ciato!" Ildon called frantically, as Zozma shook his head and yelled, "Don't give up! Come on, you're the Bat Knight!" Right then, it didn't matter who Ciato was. Ciato was losing control again.

He screamed. It was a scream of such agony that it hurt everyone to hear it. Shockwaves of darkness trembled out of nowhere, trying to push them back, throw them into the abyss. Somewhere, they heard glass shattering yet knew there was nothing that could break. The scream rose in pitch until it no longer sounded human. It sounded… elongated, scratchy. Like nails being raked across a chalkboard. Blue was sure his ears were bleeding, and when he no longer thought he could take it… there was silence.

Blue waited a few seconds, and then slowly opened his eyes and looked up. Ciato was still in his throne. Except that it was no longer really Ciato. Ciato did not sport red skin, or horns. Nor were his eyes completely white. Blue knew at once that they were no longer looking at a Mystic.

Now they were facing a demon. A demon that would have very much like to have torn them apart long ago.

-(End Chapter)

After finding their way through the abyss, our heroes finally face off against Ciato… only to discover the truth behind the madness in the Mystics. Orlouge, with the horrible knowledge of the ascension as a Mystic Lord, had no choice but to reveal the madness that has taken control of the Bat Knight. But once Sith's name comes up, the madness that has slowly devoured their universe resurfaces. He has no love for the name of Sith, and aims to face off against our heroes one more time before his end is near. But without Rouge, can the others pull Ciato back to the realm of sanity? Will the demon finally end their lives and reshape the world without Time Lord, Kylin, and Sith? Or will the Esper Lord herself come and aid our heroes in their final battle? Find out in the next chapter, and click that Review button!


	51. Inconsistencies: Sometimes, It Happens

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does. They haven't called to tell me if they've recouped from Unlimited SaGa, so I suggested they make SaGa Frontier III. They said they would once they get the funds from their Final Fantasy buddies.

A demon. They were facing a demon. None of them knew why, but the mere thought of such a task terrified every single one of them. They had faced so many things before: the undead, dragons, minions of evil, Anita, Joker, and even the Lord of Hell. But for whatever reason, the thought of facing this horrible creature made them want to quiver, shrivel, curl up, and then turn to dust. Just like the timelines and worlds Ciato had been so busy destroying. No… not Ciato. The demon who now possessed him. The demon who was currently leering, fire pouring off all around him.

Blue tried to control his shivering long enough to get a good look at what they faced. It still had Ciato's body, still had the same height and weight. The only difference was the red skin and horns. So, why _was_ he so afraid? Was it really because it was simply Ciato, and no one wanted to kill the man? Or was the fear coming from the demon itself, wanting only to poison them and make them less hostile? He didn't know, and he didn't think he'd ever find out.

"What on earth are you?" Blue finally asked, knowing that if no one spoke, everyone would inevitably die. Surprisingly, the demon inclined its head, and smiled wickedly. It seemed none at all surprised by the question.

"On _earth?_" it repeated, and laughed a laugh that was so unlike Ciato, it shattered any illusions that Ciato was even there at all, "Well, darling, I certainly am _not_ from this _earth_, but I am what you see: a _beautiful_ Mystic."

"No way in _hell_ you're Ciato!" Zozma yelled furiously, grabbing his sword from his hip and aiming the point at the demon, "Speak straight or we'll kill you!" At this, the demon became amused. Its brow rose quizzically, and it leaned back almost casually in the throne.

"And end all existence? My, my, aren't you a hasty one," it commented slyly, grinning again, "And to think Sith found you worthy of saving the universe." Zozma snarled, but the mention of the Esper's name brought forth his hesitancy. This demon knew her. But what did it know about her? That question didn't slip by any of them. Even Fuse, normally so inattentive to magic, understood the significance.

"How do you know of Sith?" Blue demanded slowly, clearly. The demon smiled now, and its eyes glinted dangerous. Its nails tapped on the arms of the throne.

"Sith Winchester? Well, we all know of her, dear," it replied calmly, "She is the One who Did It." Blue, Zozma, and Ildon exchanged glances, wondering what that could've possibly meant. To them, Sith was just a woman who sent them on a ridiculous task. A task she probably should have taken care of herself, in retrospect.

Sensing that the nickname meant nothing, the demon continued, "She is a thorn in every demon's side, a constant gash in every nightmare we instill. Fighting only for the side of light, she has thwarted us in more ways than you'll ever imagine." That almost explained the creature's reaction to the thought of her judgment. Except that not one of them knew what it was talking about. How much damage could one Esper do?

"What did she do?" Ildon asked curiously, not quite sure he believed what this demon was telling them. Blue didn't blame him; there was a reason demons weren't trusted.

"The correct question is what _hasn't_ she done?" the demon retorted, and its smile vanished, "From killing our agents to sabotaging our own worlds, Sith has done far more to stop the tides of darkness than any mortal could possibly think. And for what purpose? For _light?_ For the _good_ of humanity?" At this, the demon laughed hysterically, and shaking his head, he added, "She has not seen the worlds as of late, has she?"

"Well, _someone_ has to stop you assholes," Fuse informed him, and everyone stared at the cop, "If she doesn't, you'll probably destroy everything you see." Considering that they were facing a _demon_, back-talking and pointing out the very obvious were not smart things to do. Then again, this was _Fuse_, and logical thinking wasn't on his resume for IRPO.

Not sure whether to ignore Fuse or congratulate him on his whole new level of idiocy, the demon said, "Light is nothing more but the second side of the same coin. Who is Sith to decide what is right and what isn't?" Blue couldn't argue. No one truly had that right except for Kylin. But who knew if Kylin existed anymore?

"So you're telling us _one person_ can stop you people from doing your self-appointed mission?" Zozma asked, and when the demon nodded, he snorted and said, "Wow, you idiots must suck, then. I saw Sith. Her husband looks scarier than she does." Blue thought he heard a snort, but the light kept pulsing, dimming every few seconds, and he couldn't figure out who it was coming from. The demon's expression remained almost unchanged.

"Therein lies our frustration," it replied calmly, almost gently, "She is thousands of years old, and even frail in some aspects. But she is more than a match for me."

"Which is why you have to kill us?" Ildon asked flatly. The demon nodded again. Blue noticed it seemed to be tapping the arms of the throne with increased speed. Something was making it nervous.

"No. You are simply annoying me," the demon finally said, after trying to think of an answer that wouldn't be so insulting. It failed that regardless. Blue heard Ildon growl lowly, and glanced over. Ildon's sword was still out, and between the pulses of light, he saw the Mystic was crouched down, as if he were ready to strike. Blue wondered if he had just been buying some time.

"Well, ain't that just too bad for you," Fuse said sarcastically, and the demon looked over at him. He had his gun out and aimed – if only he knew bullets had no effect on demons! Fearlessly, he said, "I'm tired of hearing about Sith. She ain't that important. What I want to know is what you've done to Kylin." The demon was almost impressed. Either the man had nerves of steel, or was truly just that stupid.

Grinning again, the demon turned to the side and looked at Fuse through its – or more, _Ciato's_ – lashes and said, "I don't tell those things to people I don't know." Blue saw Fuse twitch visibly, his nose scrunching up, giving him the look of someone who just smelled horseshit. Likewise, Silence had the same expression; it was just to a lesser degree.

"You're going to have some very real quality time with our weapons if you don't answer our damn questions," Fuse spat back, and it was clear he wasn't in the mood to play. If Ciato himself weren't disgusted with what his body was doing, the demon might have tried pouting. But the demon could only sigh.

"Must you resort to violence?" it asked him, and Fuse found himself lowering his weapon, "Why can't you see things through my eyes for once?" Fuse clenched his teeth, finding himself kneeling instead of standing. Now he understood why no one else was moving to strike. This demon knew how to toy with emotions and twist them around.

"Because… you're a… demented… son of a… bitch," Fuse struggled to get the words out, and Blue was disheartened when there was no strength in those words. The demon smiled again, its eyes narrowed victoriously. Fuse no longer had the strength to hold his weapon up. It was pathetic, really. Almost no effort had been used to subdue such a zealous cop.

But all of the sudden, the demon reeled back in pain. A blue bolt of pure energy slammed into its face, and it flew back, colliding with a solid, invisible wall – after it plowed right through the back of the throne! Before it was up, it saw sparks of energy pinching at its skin. And when it managed to stand, it was hit again with the same energy. And the second time, the caster wasn't afraid to show who had been the _fool_ to hit a demon. Furiously, the demon stood up despite the blow, and glared right at Silence. Surprised, and now worried about the injured Mystic, the others turned to him as well.

Silence was still chained, and his face was haggard, his breathing labored. But his eyes were full of anger. Anger, and determination. His brows were creased, and he gave the same glare right back to the demon. For a long moment, the two tried to stare each other down. Neither would back away – too much was at stake for both if they did. But something had to eventually break.

'_Let him go!_' Silence yelled, with enough force in his thoughts to make the words public. His voice reverberated around the entire realm, causing the lights to deepen a bit in color. The demon certainly didn't appear to enjoy it.

Struggling to keep from falling over, the demon slid down the wall and landed on its feet. Snarling, it said, "For a mute, you certainly pack a punch. Who taught you to use the Aura Bolt?" Silence smirked. That was something _he'd_ never tell. Not that he could. So few people knew of the attack, that no one would've believed him anyway.

'_Wouldn't you like to know?_' Silence dared, seeming to gain confidence now that he actually managed to hit his captor, '_Why don't you do as I say before I blast you apart?_' But rather than be afraid of the threat, the demon became amused again. Here he was, _the_ demon of the Abyss, being beaten down by a pathetic whelp of a Mystic. A Mystic that was no threat by any Mystic standards, no less!

"Sorry, but I don't take orders well at all," the demon replied, and with a laugh, it sent a shockwave toward Silence that completely paralyzed the defenseless man. Even if he weren't mute, he couldn't scream. His muscles tensed up the second the shock hit him; it became painful to even breathe. And that demonic bastard was laughing the entire time.

The laughter ended almost as quickly as it came. Silence hadn't taken well to Fuse's lapse in strength, and the cop reciprocated the feeling. Three gunshots rocked the realm, making the frames of that dimension quake. Three gunshots hit the demon – one in the shoulder, one in the stomach, and one in the heart. Three gunshots drew blood, black blood that oozed onto the ground and pooled into a vile, poisonous puddle. Three gunshots had come from one mortal, who was currently standing there, gun at the ready. The smoke cleared, and the demon could scarcely believe it. A human shot him – a _human!_

For a long moment, the demon stood, eyes glassy and fixed on Fuse. Blood continued to gush from the three wounds, with no attempt made to stop the flow. What could he do, anyway? His left arm was paralyzed, and his heart had been hit. If Ciato's soul had been in control, the poor man would have died instantly. As it was, the demon could only watch in agony as the body's life force whittled down to almost nothing. It already felt itself growing cold. And slowly, the color began to fade, the realm descending once again into darkness.

The demon finally fell. Slowly, so slowly, it fell to the ground, in the pool of Ciato's blood. Silence descended all around it, as though everything ended in the blink of an eye. Perhaps it had; reality was literally hanging by Ciato's fingertips. Yet, Blue was aware everyone was alive. Shouldn't they have died as well, if what the demon claimed was true?

Nervously, eyes darting back and forth, Zozma said, "You… you think you really got him?" He looked up to where he last remembered seeing Fuse, before the darkness enshrouded the realm. He could see just a sliver of Fuse's expression in the waning light. The cop wasn't pleased as he lowered his gun.

"I hit him, but he's not dead," was the grim response, "He's a damn archdemon, boy. It'll take more than a Magnum .78 to kill him."

"But wouldn't killing Ciato's body kill the demon, too?" Ildon asked. No one answered. No one needed to. Possession was tricky business indeed – the possessor did not actually need to be there to perform the task. All Fuse managed was to kill Ciato. The demon could just as easily retaliate. Or even just show up and taunt them about it.

"We need to get out of here," Orlouge said, and he heard Ildon and Zozma gasp in surprise. Obviously, neither of them thought they'd have that option. Orlouge continued, "If we're dealing with an archdemon, we have no chance. Not without help." But what help could they get? They were in another dimension, in another plane. Nothing existed… save for them.

"And where would we go, my friend?" the Time Lord asked gently. Orlouge wanted to answer, but all he could do was look away. He had no idea what to say. There was nowhere to go. All they could do was wait.

They tried to wait, but the thought of being trapped weighed heavily very quickly. Without Ciato, nothing could be created in this plane, including a way out. But with Ciato, the demon had instant access to the Celestial terminal. Or whatever was left of it. To the heroes trapped within the realm, it was a battle that forced them to decide which choice was the lesser evil. Ciato did not truly deserve to die, but the demon couldn't be allowed to live.

When it was too much to bare, Zozma had to break the ice. He tried sitting; he couldn't relax. Frustrated, he stood and said, "For gods' sake, people, someone say something!" Fuse glanced over at him with a look of such disinterest, it was almost painful to see.

"Does anyone have an X-Potion?" the cop asked. When Zozma glared, he arched a brow and asked, "What? You want Silence to die?" Zozma growled under his breath. He didn't _want_ Silence to die, but of all of the deep, meaningful things that could've been said, begging for an X-Potion was probably the last thing on Zozma's list.

"X-Potions don't even exist," Blue reminded him with a sigh. Fuse looked at Blue, hearing the hopelessness in the young man's voice. He frowned. When he saw Silence casting a worried look at the mage, Fuse decided that Silence wasn't the only one who needed some healing.

Quietly, Fuse let Silence sit, and walked off of the invisible pedestal toward Blue. The poor mage was distraught. Physically, he was all right; slightly worn from the demon's attacks, but he would recover. But Fuse saw wounds deeper, wounds that weren't visible unless you were looking for them. It was in Blue's eyes, crystal blue that told only a hard truth. Now, they had a darker look to them, and the shine that had once been there seemed to have been extinguished.

"What's going on in there, Blue?" Fuse asked gently, coming forward to face him. Blue looked up, and saw the concern on the cop's face. He almost smiled.

"I'm just wondering what we've done," Blue replied emptily. Fuse didn't say anything. But Blue knew he was watching, trying to understand. With another sigh, Blue said, "Look around us. What have we fought for? A world that will never exist? Worlds that will never be?" Now Fuse understood. His eyes widened like a frightened child's. What were they fighting for? For the people who deserved to live.

"Blue, you can't think like that," Fuse said firmly, knowing all too well how easy it would be for Blue to fall into the pits of despair. He himself went through it when he nearly lost his job ten years before.

But Blue wasn't listening. He looked up at Fuse, his eyes seeming darker with every second. "Why can't I?" he asked, his voice nearly flat, "My brother is gone, the world I know is destroyed, and everyone I knew is dead. Fuse, whatever we were supposed to do, we failed."

"Blue, don't you dare say that. We're not dead yet, we have a chance," Fuse reminded him, his voice teetering on the edge of fury. Blue's eyes narrowed in a frustrated glare. He didn't want to give up, but by the gods, their chances seemed so bleak!

"What chance do we have!" Blue blurted out, and his sudden outburst caught Fuse off-guard, "Fuse, we failed! We destroyed Oblivion's heart, and we didn't even come close to finding Kylin! We… we failed so badly. There's just no point anymore." Fuse could see tears forming in Blue's eyes. He wasn't being hopeless. He was being honest. And put in his perspective, they really did face a hopeless situation.

Fuse's whole life had been a hopeless situation. His father had been jailed before he was even seven, and his mother died giving birth to his sister. But he never gave up. He went to his grandfather, raised his sister until scarlet fever took her. He put himself through school, and went through the Academy just to fight the hopelessness. He became a cop to protect the world from hopelessness. It seemed just as dire, like fate had been stacked against him. But he still prevailed. He found options. This wasn't different, not truly. There had to be a way. Blue just had to see those ways.

Knowing that being too rough could do more harm than healing, Fuse said, "Are you sure that's the last thing you want to say before we bite the big one?" Blue looked up at him again, this time nearly shocked into anger. Likewise, Zozma and Idlon were paying attention as well. Something in Fuse's voice had changed, like a strength that they hadn't known was there.

"We're going to die?" Zozma asked, with a fear _he_ hadn't known existed. Fuse turned to him, lips thin and grim-faced. He wasn't Fuse the Cop anymore. No, he was… well, he was Fuse, but he knew something they weren't thinking about. He gestured toward the empty realm. It continued to pulse, dim, and then pulse again.

"In the technical sense, we already are, boys," Fuse told them seriously, and their mouths dropped, "At least to the few worlds that remain. In fact, to them, we never even existed. But do they deserve to die just because they don't know we're fighting for them?" As he spoke, his voice grew passionate. Zozma and Ildon exchanged glances, not knowing how to answer. They never thought of saving other worlds – Mystics normally only cared about their own.

Not wanting his team to lose the momentum they did have, Fuse continued, "Look, I know you all are afraid to die. Everyone dies, boys, you'd better face that now before we keep going. But ask yourselves if you're ready to give up. Don't you want a chance to go home? Don't you want a chance to save the future that should be?" He could tell Zozma did, and knew Silence was on his side. Orlouge and the Time Lord had no reason to object, either. But it was Ildon and Blue he worried most about; Ildon's anger and Blue's hopelessness were already clouding their judgment.

"But what if we fail?" Blue asked him, "What if we already have?"

"That doesn't matter!" Fuse exclaimed furiously, throwing his arms out dramatically, "Our futures might be screwed. But we have to try! We're heroes – Sith put that faith in us. What hero gives up when things look the worst?" Blue shivered, and looked down. Truth was, he didn't feel like much of a hero. But Sith had seen something in him, had spoken privately to him. Espers never invested time unless they saw potential.

But what did it matter? Sith could have been destroyed along with the billions of other inhabitants in Oblivion. Her words were nothing more than the hollow voice of a phantom long dead. Could he believe in what she said? He wanted to, but it all seemed so impossible. Tired, confused, and angry, Blue closed his eyes. He had to believe in something. He needed a reason to keep going.

He received it when he heard her voice again. '_Choices. Decisions._' Blue gasped, the strength of those words still strong, even if the body who said them was gone, '_Our lives are not based on our destinies. They are based on what we do, on our actions._' On their decisions – including the one Fuse was handing them. Fuse already chose his destiny; he was going to fight to the end and make sure the demon never came back. But what about the others?

"How can we be heroes?" he heard Ildon ask, and he looked over. Ildon's skin looked pale in the pulsing light, and his eyes looked exhausted… and very sad. He wasn't being difficult. He just didn't see himself as a hero, much like Blue didn't.

"Everyone's a hero in their own way," Fuse replied calmly, casting a secretive glance at Blue, "It just depends on what we do to become that hero." Did Fuse know what Blue had heard? Blue swallowed, not quite sure what to say.

He didn't need to say anything. Zozma beat him to it. Brows creased, the red-headed Mystic said, "Heroes don't give up. Alkarl didn't when Alkuna-Matata rose from the grave and tried to destroy the Savannah. I want to be like Alkarl, always facing death even when he's laughing in my face." Humor wasn't exactly the best thing to add to a desperate situation, but Zozma definitely caught everyone else's attention. Ildon, in particular, was not amused.

"I don't think you should be comparing our situation to a sit-com," Ildon commented slowly, as though he couldn't understand what would prompt such a stupid outburst. Blue almost chuckled; maybe that ridiculousness was what they needed, if only to get the energy rolling.

"Aw, why not? Think about it," Zozma replied slyly, grinning, "We were thrown into some crazy nega-dimension, and we're facing a demon! All while trying to stop the time-space continuum from exploding! This has sci-fi favorite written all over it!" Ildon just stared at him for a long moment. Then, he shook his head and said something that surprised no one – not even Zozma.

"You're an idiot," Ildon grumbled. That didn't lessen his fellow prince's grin in any way.

"Yeah, but are your spirits any higher?" Zozma asked, and when Ildon grunted and looked away, he knew he did his job. All he wanted was to get his friends to stop being so down. He managed it with Ildon. All that was left was to convince Blue. Turning to the mage in question, Zozma asked, "What do you think? You feeling any better, buddy?" Blue just smiled weakly.

"No, not considering what I lost," he admitted truthfully, "But you _are_ right. We can't give up." Did Zozma actually succeed?

"So you're ready to kick ass now!" Zozma exclaimed. Blue frowned. He never said that.

But he knew now wasn't the time for a pity party. Leaning back, Blue said, "I don't know what we're facing, but I guess I am." Zozma grinned again. To him, that was a non-event. _None_ of them knew what they were facing. It wasn't stopping anyone but Blue. It probably wouldn't stop Rouge, if he were there. But when Zozma said this, Blue sighed and said, "By all accounts, I am the opposite of Rouge. My hesitancy is just another…"

"…Technical bullshit, if you ask me," Zozma cut him off, and Blue stared, both shocked and insulted. Zozma's grin hadn't faded – it was either a sign of arrogance or confidence. And Blue wasn't sure which one would make him hit the zealous Mystic first. Knowing that, Zozma continued, "Look here, Blue. You always said you wanted to pull away from the predestined bullshit those asses at the Magic Kingdom put on you. The best way to do that is to prove them wrong. They think you're nothing without Rouge. Show them you're stronger than that. Save his soul, Blue."

"But…"

"But what? We don't exist anymore? Who cares?" Zozma asked, not giving the mage a second to stop him, "We only stop existing when we stop living. I'm not dead yet, and neither are you. Neither is Rouge, or Sith, or anyone else. But they will be if we don't finish what we came here to do." Which was to stop Ciato and find Kylin.

Running away was easy. But Blue was getting tired of everyone trying to pull him out of the pit he wanted to fall through. He was glad Zozma was willing to be tough; not that he was, but Blue knew he could be, if he wanted to. He also knew what Zozma said was true. Rouge had to be alive, somewhere. Blue just needed to figure out where to look and how to find him. The first place to start was with the demon. Or Ciato, if the demon ran and left the shell behind, with enough life force to sustain the soul.

Blue stood, and looked down toward where the demon had fallen. He saw Ciato's body lying there, lifeless. The poor man… the demon had left, after all. And Ciato's soul couldn't staunch three bleeding wounds – one of which had gone through his heart. Unable to decide what should be done, Blue called Fuse over and had him look down. He knew the cop couldn't make a diagnosis from their height, but Fuse might know if there was a way to safely transport the body.

Unfortunately, Fuse's already-grim visage deepened. Turning to his friend, he said, "I got him good, Blue. I'm not sure what it is you're hoping for. A miracle?" Blue shook his head, crossing his arms.

"Answers and a way out," Blue said firmly, his gaze still on the body below, "With wounds that grave, even if the demon were still alive, he might be willing to compromise if we could heal him." Fuse's look became one of warning. He hated negotiating with criminals. Doing so with a demon was a breach of ethics that would take years to smooth out.

"That's dangerous ground, boy," the cop warned seriously. Blue nodded, knowing that.

"We can't just fight him and hope that fixes things," Blue replied honestly, "He knows how to use the Celestial terminal. It still works. If we can access it, we might be able to fix whatever damage was done."

"Without Kylin, we won't know what goes where," Orlouge reminded him, and Blue turned. He hadn't expected any of the Mystics to involve themselves in the conversation, but then he remembered that the Time Lord had used the terminal as well. Maybe they didn't need the demon, after all.

"All we need to do is find the terminal," Blue finally said, looking over at the Time Lord, "First, we reverse this and put ourselves back in the right reality. Then, we can find Kylin and fix everything else." The Time Lord understood his part before Blue even spoke. He almost laughed.

"And you know where to find the terminal?" the Time Lord asked. Blue nodded again. And this, needless to say, piqued the curiosity of everyone else around him.

At first, everyone had assumed Blue's plan to negotiate the demon was out of desperation. They thought he was going mad from the stress of what happened, thought he just wasn't thinking straight. But he told them what he thought about the terminal and where it might be located. And when they heard, at least half of his companions understood and thought it made some sense. Blue explained that he was sure the terminal was actually in this strange dimension they were trapped in, and that that's why they couldn't see Ciato at first. He had probably hidden it, anticipating their approach. But why, Zozma asked, would Ciato send them there if he wanted the terminal hidden?

The answer was within the demon again. The demon wanted full possession of Ciato, but couldn't attain it. Ciato was willful, rebellious. He sought small ways to break free, and had done things to ensure it. He must have enticed the demon inside to let him bring his former allies there, but Blue had a feeling there were different motives. Ones the demon didn't even read. Ciato's behavior before being repossessed convinced him that this was the truth.

There was nothing to show them where the floor or steps leading to where Ciato had sat was. But as Blue took a step, the lights changed again, and the sky brightened a bit, the stars becoming lighter. Illumination warmed up underneath them, showing a crystal-clear road that led to a circular staircase upwards. That ended on a circular platform, where the throne – as well as Rouge's unconscious soul – stood waiting. Blue wasted no time. He couldn't explain all of his idea, but he had said enough for them to know what he was going to do. He ran down the road, up the stairs, and didn't stop until he was close to the throne.

By all accounts, the throne looked like any other, normal, obsidian throne. The cushioning was red velvet, and the arms were solid despite the demon's scratching. But Blue knew better. Demons never sat where there was no magic. This throne held something they needed. By the time Fuse had caught up to him, he was already searching for a button, or a secret compartment. Something to show him the way.

'_You need the word,_' came Rouge's voice, and Blue stopped, turned, and froze. Rouge was awake now – the demon's lack of consciousness made his soul stir. And he was looking at his brother, a tired look in his phantom eyes. Smiling weakly, he said, '_There is a password for the throne._'

"Rouge!" Blue cried, eyes watering, "Rouge! You're alive! By the gods, you… you really are alive!" He heard a chuckle, even though Rouge's mouth hadn't moved.

'_Someone had to keep Ciato from blowing you up until you found us,_' Rouge replied, and when Blue looked down, the phantom said, '_I'm sorry, Blue… I wanted to find you, but when I landed in the Abyss, I… I found Ciato. He wasn't himself, he didn't know who or where he was. Just that he had some great quest to do, some terminal to find._' The Celestial terminal, of course. Blue sniffled.

"You helped him?" he asked in disbelief. How could Rouge do such a thing? But, Rouge was already shaking his head by the time the question had been asked.

'_I only spoke to the good side of him_,' Rouge told him, all of them, '_Ciato is a split man. There is a horrible demon inside of him, but when he saw me, he tried to fight it. I encouraged him to not give up_.' Rouge obviously used the fact that Ciato loved him to back him up. It was a noble gesture, despite the fact that it failed.

"Did Ciato tell you anything about the terminal?" Fuse asked him. Rouge nodded, but the exhaustion seemed to become more apparent. He had so little time left.

'_The terminal has two modes: passive and active. Passive, it looks like that throne. And active, it looks like a computer terminal; the throne is hidden within, and _that_ allows you to control other worlds, not just space_,' Rouge explained. Gently, he said, '_The password to open the terminal is Mung Du Un Heatheitz. Ciato said it's an Esper term, but…_' He didn't finish, because he had no idea what it truly meant. Blue wished he could hug his brother for what they had been told. But there was only time for a few questions; he had to be selective.

"And the demon?" he asked gently. Rouge bit his lip, shivered a bit.

'_Her name is Baeladeen_,' Rouge answered quietly, '_One of the lower demons, but powerful enough to do this. But neither Ciato nor I know much about her._'

"How'd she enter Ciato's body?" Zozma asked him. Rouge shivered again. Obviously not a pleasant memory for him. It must've been a nightmare for Ciato.

'_He said that when Fascinaturu was nearly destroyed centuries ago, he made a deal with her to heal Rastaban,_' Rouge explained sadly, '_But he tried to block her passage into the mortal realm. He knew what would happen. Angrily, she possessed him, but he was far more willful than she thought. He kept her at bay._' For centuries, too. It was no wonder Ciato seemed so troubled all of the time. Had Rastaban known? Was that why he had no ill will toward his former lover?

"How the hell did he keep it from us?" Zozma asked, eyes wide with wonder. He doubted even he had the will to do it. Not for centuries, not even for years.

'_Asellus blew away the magic he tried to wrap around himself,_' Rouge told them, '_He started going mad after she nearly killed him._' Blue guessed that when they found the portal, Baeladeen saw a window of Ciato's weakness and dove through it.

Demonology was frowned upon nearly everywhere except for Espers and demons themselves. But that didn't mean the knowledge never went anywhere. Blue turned to Orlouge and the Time Lord, and asked, "Is there any way we can dispel such a demon?" Both elder Mystics exchanged worried glances. Blue had a feeling he wouldn't like their answers.

"Minions can be dispelled with holy water. But Lower demons and High Demons need powerful concentrations of holy magic to even want to flee," Orlouge explained hesitantly, "An Esper might be able to do it." Blue definitely didn't like that answer. There were no Espers for them to ask.

The Time Lord's response was only minimally better. "If we can trap the demon in time and 'shatter' it in that state, that is another way to destroy it," the Mystic told him. Then, when he saw Blue was actually considering it, he said, "Adverse effects will occur from it, including the exaction of vengeance from any followers she has." But was the world really worth not trying that? Blue didn't think so. They were screwed, regardless.

"We have to do it. We can't let Baeladeen get to the terminal, and we know she's not dead," Blue reasoned calmly. The Time Lord's lips pursed, but he saw Blue had no other alternatives, and that they were pressed for very little time. There was no time to go searching for an Esper powerful enough. At least with his suggested, they could stop Baeladeen. He had no choice but to concede.

"All right, then," the older Mystic said gently, and turned to Orlouge, "You and I will stop Baeladeen. We let the little ones control the terminal." Orlouge, however, wasn't nearly as willing for the latter part. To him, putting Zozma anywhere near a machine that delicate just reeked of destruction.

"Are you _sure_ that's a smart idea?" Orlouge pressed only once. The Time Lord gave him a look that dared him to bring up a better idea. Orlouge backed down. Fuse backed the Time Lord's resolve.

"Kylin's my uncle. I have a good knowledge of the time-space continuum," Fuse told both Mystics, as Blue, Zozma, and Ildon watched, "If anyone controls the terminal, it's going to be me."

"Why the hell _you?_" Zozma demanded hotly, brows creased in irritation. Fuse wasn't daunted. His look became flat as he regarded the fiery prince.

"Because if _I_ blow up the world, you can probably fix it. But if _you_ do it, Sith will kill you," Fuse replied honestly. Assuming the Esper in question wasn't already dead. But Zozma decided to ignore that point; Fuse would simply find a better argument, and he was the reason they were doing well so far.

With a shrug, Zozma grinned, turned to his two companions and said, "Well, I guess we just wait and see what happens." Ildon wasn't convinced that their part was for moot, and Blue wasn't, either. Which was good, because Fuse shattered the illusion of laziness before the sentence was finished. He even laughed about it.

"No, you three have an even better job than that," the cop said slyly. And when Zozma looked over at him questioningly, Fuse added, "I'll need someone to protect my ass in case the old men can't hold our demon down." Zozma audibly groaned in frustration. And Ildon – the son of a bitch! – just laughed hysterically.

Though Blue wasn't sure if Ciato had told Rouge the actual password at first, he was pleasantly surprised when Fuse whispered the code, and the throne began to shift. It should have been physically impossible, but as soon as the words were spoken, computer screens began to just materialize around the throne itself, enclosing the chair in what would become the Celestial terminal, and the tool that would either fix the universe or completely end it. And in the center, sitting on that chair, was Fuse. As the terminal began to change shape, the chair began to lock Fuse in. At first, this terrified his three friends. But when they saw he wasn't afraid, they relaxed. And when he saw the visor coming down – which would allow him to view multiple timelines and worlds freely – _he_ relaxed. This was it, the last leg before it all came together. He could almost feel the excitement coursing through his veins.

As for Blue, Ildon, and Zozma, they simply waited, standing equidistant from each other in a circle around the terminal. They looked out, around, never facing the terminal but always keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might come to stop them. Though Baeladeen had taken a nice plunge far below, Fuse had spoken of being attacked by minions. Blue didn't want to know what could happen if they didn't keep their guard up.

When they were in place, Blue next looked over toward Orlouge and the Time Lord. They were further away, looking down. Most likely, they were watching for any sign of the demon's return – first signals would be from Ciato's body moving, even a little bit. But all was silent, and it didn't seem likely that anything was coming. For a few long, frozen minutes, everyone stayed exactly where they were. Even Silence, who wanted so desperately to help them, stayed where he sat, knowing his wounds were too grievous to allow him to be of much help. All he could do was offer advice.

Zozma's patience, however, wasn't strong. He was never a patient man, and being trapped in a new dimension hadn't changed that one bit. When the silence began to itch, he said, "So, what're we looking for here, Fuse? Fractures? Missing worlds?"

"A muzzle to shut you up would be nice," Ildon grumbled, but Zozma pretended to ignore him. Unfortunately, he didn't know Fuse had the same thought. At least the cop had the sense to answer, though.

"First, I'm looking for inconsistencies in the remaining lines," Fuse replied seriously, and Zozma heard typing within the terminal, "Duplicate worlds, double-events, alternate realities crashing into each other. Anything that could be a problem that needs correcting _right now_." Zozma nodded, but said nothing. He wasn't sure what to think, since none of those scenarios ever occurred to him before. But right when he was about to ask something else, Fuse said, "Oh… shit." That wasn't a good sign.

Turning around, yet still keeping an eye out around him, Blue asked, "What did you find?"

"I think we already had an alternate reality clash into our own," Fuse stated gravely, "You all remember Anita Campbell, right?"

"Isn't she the bitch who owns the CTC building in Manhattan?" Zozma asked, brow arched as he listened. Fuse nodded grimly, and they heard more typing, faster this time.

"Yes. Well… no, but yes," Fuse replied, and when he got no response, he figured they didn't understand him, "I mean, technically, all alternates of the same person own whatever it is the original alternate owns." Fuse said a lot of things, but explained very little. Even Blue was confused.

"Run that by us a little slower, Fuse," Blue urged. Fuse would've laughed; after all, it made perfect sense to him. But he just shrugged and complied.

"Basically, Anita exists, but she wasn't supposed to exist in _our_ reality," Fuse explained, "She's an alternate to Cindy Campbell, who mysteriously went missing about fifteen years ago." Blue blinked, and then he just stared off into nothing. Anita Campbell… that seemed so long ago, but he recalled it perfectly. Something had definitely seemed off, but he just didn't know what. Including how she managed to get such dangerous material into their world, when not even IRPO could identify what it was. But… did Fuse know this?

"Why didn't you tell me _Cindy_ went missing!" Blue finally yelled, loud enough for Rouge to jump and look over. There was a moment of silence before Fuse answered.

"The report was never filed. Even if I told you, there wasn't anything you could do," Fuse replied calmly, "To the world at large, Anita Campbell owns CTC, and _Cindy_ is no more than a phantom. That's how alternates work. Eventually, if left on their own, they assume the identity of another alternate perfectly." That was probably why it was never reported. Anita and Cindy must've been completely identical, so when someone saw _Anita_, they must've assumed…

"Fuse, what are you going to do?" Blue asked suddenly. The typing stopped.

"I have to do something you won't like, boy," Fuse told him knowingly, confirming the thought Blue suddenly had, "It's an inconsistency, and it should've been corrected." Blue was shaking his head. No, Fuse couldn't! Not after what it took to bring Anita down!

"You can't revive Cindy! We already killed her, in the eyes of the people!" Blue cried, but Fuse's duty was heavier than that. He had to do it; if he didn't, Anita might come back as something far worse.

"Only in the eyes of a reality passed," Fuse reminded him grimly, and when Blue protested further, he said, "Boy, I'm sorry. I know what you and Rouge went through. But if I don't do it, there's a good chance Anita will crawl out of the abyss and attack again." Blue didn't care. Cindy would just try the same thing Anita did.

But Fuse had a weapon he knew would stop Blue's objection. And that was Rouge, who had been through and seen enough to know when the cop was right, and when things had to be done a certain way. And it was Rouge who said, "We need our reality stitched back up, Blue. Maybe Cindy's disappearance was what started it."

"But… but!" Blue stammered, but couldn't get the point out. He was just too angry, and knew Fuse was too adamant to listen. Fuse, who was in charge of the terminal now, just sighed. He didn't want to hurt Blue. But this had to be done.

"No buts, boy," Fuse said seriously, "It's now or never. As they say in good, ol' Germany, 'Halten Sie Ihre Hosen und nicht pee in ihnen."

"What the hell does _that_ mean?" Ildon growled, his own stomach going in knots at the mention of alternate realities. Inside the terminal, Fuse grinned.

"Hold onto your pants and don't piss in them," he replied. Then, without warning, he pressed a button. The dimension… no, the universe and _all_ dimensions within it wavered, rippled… and then, there was a loud blast of noise from nowhere in particular.

Blue had the sudden feeling to just find a rock and hide under it for eternity. Because, standing before them was none other than what had once been Anita Campbell. Except that it _wasn't_ Anita. This time – and none of them knew how they knew it – they were facing the real woman of CTC. They were facing _Cindy_ Campbell.

-(End Chapter)

After facing the demon and knocking her down, our heroes race frantically to find out how to use the terminal she was guarding, as well as a way to bring Ciato back. With Rouge's help, they discovered the code to open the terminal, as well as why Ciato had given in to a demon. Fuse took it upon himself to control the terminal, feeling he knew the most about how the timeline worked. But in doing so, he has found inconsistencies abound in their own reality. But how many could there be, and are they all as bad as Anita and Cindy's swap? What has resurrecting Cindy done to their world? And was Anita a part of Baeladeen's plot? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	52. Inconsistencies: Fixin' Em Fuse's Way!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said that I gave them enough material to remake SaGa Frontier. I told them I'm charging them two-million percent interest just to use Anita as a character. They don't even know she was an accident.

Cindy wasn't quite sure how she'd managed to get there. Just moments ago, she had been in a world of nothingness, floating along the life stream of her reality and watching events unfold that she couldn't remember having a hand in creating. She was floating, watching, waiting for something. She couldn't even remember what she had been waiting for. Things like that happened, once you were dead. Your organic matter decayed, and the memories and knowledge you took to your grave began to dissipate until you were nothing more than a hollow spirit in the wind. Cindy, with no idea why she was floating, seemed content to let such a thing happen.

Then, something crashed into her. It wasn't physical; it was like being hit with an invisible battle ship. But something indeed hit her, and hit her hard. Suddenly, her mind came awake and she found herself with two sets of memories. In one – her own – she controlled the world with money and fear. But in the second – hers and yet not hers – she controlled the world with supernatural powers and terror. The only thing that convinced her that both had to be hers was that in both of them, she still owned CTC. But she couldn't understand the memories. Had she been dreaming?

"Where am I?" she asked, her voice sounding groggy and otherworldly. She looked without seeing. She could see the men before her, could see the terminal in use. She simply couldn't make sense of it.

"You awake, Cindy?" Fuse's voice came, and when she nodded, he said, "Good. Listen up, okay? You know what world you're in?"

"Five minutes ago, I didn't know who I was, let alone where I was," she replied honestly, "Who are you? Why did you take me from the life stream?" Damn. She had no idea about her own reality warping itself. Fuse would have to tell her anyway. Maybe she'd believe him.

"Cindy, you know what an alternate reality is, right?" Fuse asked, without answering. Cindy looked at the terminal, her eyes narrowing. She was a woman of CTC, not a damn physicist. Her father would've known more.

…she realized her father _had_ known more. He used to tell her stories, when she was little. He told her about a teenager who stumbled into a portal while walking through the streets, and wound up in a different reality, where she no longer existed. She always wondered if there was truth to that story. Nodding, she said, "It's where you're trapped and forced to live a life you can't control."

"Not exactly, but you're close," Fuse said to her, and she blinked, "Yeah, you get trapped. But you aren't chained to events. Sometimes, you don't even exist if you end up in the wrong reality. Sometimes, you do exist without even existing." Cindy seemed only more confused with that answer. Blue didn't blame her. It hadn't made much sense to him, either.

"Exist without existing?" she repeated.

"All right, let me give you a prime analogy," Fuse grumbled, his patience thin with how quickly he had to work, "Let's say you walk and find a strange portal. Your curiosity gets the better of you, and you jump in. Let's say it takes you to a new reality, where, right in that second, an alternate of you supposedly died.

"Now, because you two were switched out at that very second, the reality you don't belong to will see you as being _dead_. But because it wasn't _you_ that was supposed to die, you're still alive," Fuse explained slowly, hoping he was making as much sense as he thought he was, "Meanwhile, the alternate who switched with you is living your life. Eventually, she becomes so comfortable at being you that she _becomes_ you. Does that make sense?" Cindy stared for a long, long minute. Blue was sure it hadn't done a difference.

Surprisingly, though, she nodded. "Sort of," she replied, and then tilted her head, "But what does that have to do with me? I did die." She thought she heard a snort within the terminal.

"Not in your reality, you didn't," Fuse told her, "That's why I brought you here. We have a mess to fix." Cindy almost sneered. She was the owner of CTC. She didn't _fix_ problems. She bribed them away with money.

Something deep within her told her that money wouldn't solve this problem. It was a voice she'd never heard before, but it was a powerful voice. It was a voice she knew she couldn't disagree with. Sighing, she said, "What are you saying? I was living in a lie?"

"For about fifteen years, you were," Fuse told her, and everything she knew seemed to crash around her. Fifteen years. That was when she met that mysterious creature in the Manhattan Outskirts, and ran right through a set of white double-doors to catch it. She had thought she'd collapsed when she entered; when she woke up, she seemed to be exactly where she'd been before. Nothing physically changed.

"You're… you're lying," she whispered. Inside the terminal, Fuse's brow arched as he read something on one of the screens. No, he damn well wasn't, and she knew it. And now, he knew she knew it.

"What was that thing you found back then? A goat, was it?" Fuse asked her, and her face paled. He knew. He somehow heard her thoughts. He continued, "Except it wasn't a goat, was it? It led you right through a doorway, didn't it?"

"Stop it," Cindy pleaded. Fuse couldn't. If he didn't fix this, there was no point in continuing.

"Cindy, you know you went to a new reality. All those stories you were told, they were true," Fuse told her, crushing any illusion she wanted to put forth, "Do you want to know what happened to your reality, when you stepped out from it?" Cindy shook her head violently. She hadn't wanted to know. She hadn't wanted to admit that what her father told her wasn't a story: it had truly happened to _her_. He had told her the future.

Zozma felt no need to be gentle. He had heard what Blue and Rouge had to do to stop Anita. Coldly, he said, "Some psychotic mutant stepped in your place and nearly destroyed Manhattan because of you."

"Zozma, don't be so harsh!" Blue found himself scolding, and he turned to Cindy, "The alternate that took your place was a cruel soul. She used your father's company and its resources to the fullest to bring terror to the nation. She used the portal you found to bring in unidentified materials that would… did kill us." Cindy found herself shivering. Her father's company… he had wanted it to grow into an empire to help legalize machines that had been found in the ruins of the old Wars. Had her actions really warped her reality so much?

"I didn't mean for that to happen," she whispered pitifully, shivering uncontrollably, "I just wanted to know if the stories were true. When I went back, the portal was gone."

"Portals only spawn in an original reality," Fuse told her, "That way, alternates that should never exist can't switch themselves out and flee a fate they deserved." That voice told her she had to pay attention. Cindy bit her lip. If only she had stayed. If only she hadn't run off like that. All for what? A _goat?_

"What did I become?" she dared to ask. In the reality that never was, she became a successful businesswoman. But that had all crumbled in a sudden, violent explosion that wiped out all of Manhattan and most of the Trinity nation. Fuse already knew this; the computers had shown him when he resurrected her.

"An abomination," Fuse replied, and Cindy nearly collapsed, "The material your alternate brought in was highly irradiated. It turned her into a mutated spider-woman. She nearly destroyed our world, if not for Blue and his brother." Cindy looked over at Blue, though she had no idea how she knew who he was. He nodded sadly. She swallowed hard. She had a feeling she knew how her alternate received the materials in such a deadly form.

"There was a nuclear explosion in my reality that ended the world as we knew it," she told them all, "Barely anyone survived; no one did in Manhattan. The world became so irradiated from the bombs. You said my alternate had irradiated supplies. She had to have gotten them from there." Fuse agreed, though there was no way for Cindy to see this. She didn't need to. Fuse said the portal was in the original reality. Her alternate had complete access to it. And it was her fault.

"It wouldn't have been difficult to do it," Blue commented to his boss, "The portal was in the outskirts? Anita could've gone there, disguised it as a meeting, and picked up whatever she needed."

"How'd she do it without anyone noticing?" Zozma asked, crossing his arms, "How'd she carry the supplies?" Blue opened his mouth, but realized he didn't have an answer. He didn't know. He looked to Cindy for an explanation, but she knew as much as he did. She shrugged, shaking her head.

"We need to find out what led her into the portal in the first place," Ildon suggested grimly, and everyone turned to him, "That might help us figure out how Anita grew so powerful." Blue looked at the terminal, where Fuse sat. To them, that part didn't matter. Anita should've been put right back in her own reality. Their question was more 'why was Cindy led there at all.'

"Something tells me Anita's not the whole picture," Fuse stated, and to Cindy, he said, "Look, I know this must be damn confusing. But trust me on this. Do you mind sitting tight while I fix the rest of our world's inconsistencies?" Cindy tilted her head, and then shook it. The last fifteen years were confusing. This seemed like a relief for her.

"Not at all," she replied kindly. They heard the typing again, and then grumbling from the frustrated cop. When the others were distracted, Cindy looked at Blue and said, "I know she caused a lot of pain here. My alternate." Blue looked down at her. Cindy wasn't quite the evil woman he was expecting.

"For all intense and purpose, it could've been you instead," he replied, "We'll figure this out soon enough. I trust Fuse." Cindy's eyes widened.

"Fuse! Of IRPO?" she asked, and when Blue nodded, she said, "But… I heard he was the most difficult cop to work with. I almost can't believe they'd send him to fix _this_." Blue chuckled. Fuse might've been difficult, but he had a secret knowledge about certain things that would've scared even the most veteran officers. Besides, no one in IRPO had any clue this was happening. None of them were alive, either.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Fuse demanded. But before he could get his answer, there was a beep from the terminal. Fuse forgot his question and looked at the screens. Then, Blue heard a loud curse. That wasn't good.

"What's wrong there, copper?" Zozma asked, also hearing the slander. Fuse grumbled, typed something up, then grumbled again. Then, he answered.

"The second inconsistency we have is probably ten times as worse as Anita was," Fuse told them. Blue arched a brow. He couldn't see how anything could've been worse, considering that Anita almost killed Aubergine, let alone the entire state of Manhattan. But when he asked, Fuse said, "Joker's existence is split, too." Shit. That really wasn't good. Especially after how hard they had to work to save the man's ass.

"Are you telling me we went through that trial for _no apparent reason!_" Zozma practically yelled, and threw his arms up, "Poor Gustave! Because of that, we turned his entire court into a circus freak show. I can't wait to see his response when we tell him this."

"I never said there was an alternate of him," Fuse reminded him, and the Mystic calmed down, "I said he was split. There's a difference." Zozma blinked for a long moment. To him, that didn't make much sense. Either a person was there, or he wasn't. A person couldn't be 'split.' At least, not physically.

"What's this difference?" Ildon asked him, remembering the trial as well as Zozma had. Fuse hummed a bit, and the typing grew furious. Then, it stopped. Fuse sighed.

"It's different because 'Joker' isn't a person," he said seriously, "Joker is a mask. The person _in_ the mask is the alternate here." Blue understood now. But then, that made the man, his brother, and his fragile aunt alternates as well. But alternates of what? No one knew who or what Joker was until that trial. Even Emelia, who'd been so wrapped into her revenge, was surprised at the man she actually met.

"Can't you bring back this original person of yours?" Zozma asked him. That's where things got complicated. And Fuse was the only one who knew why. He was just glad Emelia herself wasn't there; it'd blow her mind and break her heart if she were.

"…I probably should," Fuse said, and they all noticed the lack of luster in his voice. They heard typing again, and then a flash of light, similar to Cindy's arrival. But this time, a man stepped out instead. A young man, perhaps in his late twenties, emerged now. His coat was damaged – yet the IRPO badge was still preserved. His hair, however, was long and almost ratty. He looked like he'd been through hell and back.

He was just as confused as Cindy had been. But that confusion lessened when Silence suddenly exclaimed, '_Ren!_' The man blinked, and turned. He saw the exhausted Mystic lying on the ground.

"Silence! What are you doing here?" the man asked. And when he looked around and saw absolutely _no one_ he recognized, he asked, "What am I doing here, too?"

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Ren," Fuse said, and now Ren's confusion turned to complete bewilderment, "Literally. You've been dead for nearly two years. Or… you should've been."

"Dead?" Ren repeated, and his brow arched, "I haven't been dead. I've been… well, I don't know where I've been. But it wasn't Heaven. I'm still kicking." Blue could just feel Fuse's concern and irritation. Now he understood why Fuse was hesitant to fix this mess. Ren was a vocal point in Emelia's mental state. If she suddenly saw her man was alive, who knew what she might do to the man she thought was Joker. Assuming Joker was even real.

Fuse just sighed and said, "That's why we need to talk." Ren seemed more amused than anything else. He obviously had no idea of the danger he just walked into. Blue almost felt sorry for him. Ren just crossed his arms.

"Well, let's talk then," Ren agreed heartily.

"First off, what's the last thing you remember about our world?" Fuse asked him. Ren took a minute to think about that, to tap his chin and consider what he knew. It'd been two awfully long years, and it'd been non-stop action ever since. The days blurred together for him.

"I remember getting this weird mask in the mail," Ren told him seriously, "But when I put it on, and I swear this is real, it was like I fell out of myself!" Zozma just looked at the man like he was certifiably insane.

"You _fell_ out of yourself?" the skeptical Mystic repeated. Ren nodded firmly.

"Yeah, like I was a ghost. I saw myself hit the deck, and then I saw this other guy standing over me. He looked really confused," Ren explained, and then his voice changed with despair as he added, "After that, Emelia walked in. I… I couldn't talk to her. I tried telling her not to panic, but she scared the second man off.

"I spent hours trying to figure out how to reach out to you and Silence," he continued quietly, "But I couldn't do shit. That's when I discovered this door in our bedroom that I'd never seen before. I figured Emelia might stumble in, so I went to close it. And when I did, I fell right through into a different world." Just like Cindy had. Blue's mouth dropped. Ren managed to fall into a new reality, as well. The only difference was, he was a ghost and Cindy was still alive.

"The portal," Ildon whispered grimly. They all knew what happened next. Yet, something still stumped Blue. The alternate had materialized before Ren even found the door. Was it because of the mask Ren had tried on? Blue knew some things had properties akin to dark magic, but could a mask really serve as a portal itself?

"We need to find this mask of yours," he said to Ren, and the young cop looked up at him, "Do you know where it is?" Ren shook his head and frowned. As far as he knew, it could've been in his house. Or in a dumpster. Or for sale somewhere in Shingrow.

"We'd be better off ordering a replica from Mii-Bay," Ren replied, and sighed, "Man, fat lot of help I'm being. First I get dragged into this alternate world, and now you guys pull me out, and I'm about as useful as a pile of dog crap. Go me."

'_Be easier on yourself. This isn't easy for anyone involved,_' Silence said calmly, and everyone turned toward him. He was standing now, trying to hobble over despite the numerous injuries he had, '_Fuse, someone must've put those portals there. Both results have been dangerous criminals that we've had to fight in some way._' Inside the terminal, Fuse snorted, bordering on insane laughter. He gathered the same idea.

"You noticed it too, eh?" he mused, and then he did laugh, "So someone wants to play tough guy, and they're filling our world with evil alternates of good people. Anyone have any motives or anything to add?" It wasn't exactly a good thing to go down that road, considering that the only evidence they had were two people. The problem was, there could've been far more just waiting to be discovered. Would Fuse have to uncover them all?

"Can't you just pull up a list of suspects?" Zozma asked, and when he saw Ildon staring, he said, "Well, how _else_ did he find out about Cindy and… what's his name?" He glanced at Ren, who seemed about as unassuming as any normal Joe off the street. Ildon just nodded, but the way his eyes were narrowed, he wasn't sure if he should take his fellow prince seriously. With Zozma, no one ever knew if the man was being serious or not.

Fuse, unfortunately, wasn't exactly in a good mood. He grunted in annoyance inside of the terminal, "It ain't that simple, boy. If it were, I could just press a magic button and our world would be fixed." Zozma hummed. Of course, nothing was ever that easy. He sighed heavily. If only he had been a Mystic lord, he might've been able to make a difference long before now.

"Did you find anything else, then?" the red-haired Mystic asked tiredly. They heard typing, slower this time. But it took Fuse a minute before he answered. And he didn't sound any happier when he did.

"Too many chain events from Joker and Anita alone," he said after a long while, "It's hard to untangle the webs without some help. If I'm not careful, our world might collapse or I might awaken a worse evil than what was put there." Blue shivered. There weren't many evils he could say he never wanted to face again: Hell's Lord was about the only one who actually nearly killed him. But Joker was known as a serial murderer, and Anita Campbell nearly dropped an atomic bomb on Manhattan.

"Who else surfaced because of them, then?" Blue asked him, and he noticed Silence's attention was fixed on him. He also felt Rouge nudging him, albeit mentally. He glanced to where Rouge's soul was hovering. His twin looked concerned.

'_We're forgetting we have a demon here,_' Rouge said to him, and Blue tilted his head, '_Isn't it possible she's the one who brought Anita and Stephen here? What would've stopped her?_' Blue thought on that. Technically, it was possible. A demon could easily transgress time and space, and no one would notice the disturbance. No one, save for an Esper. But that would've put Ciato at the scene of it. Baeladeen relied on Ciato's body to stay tied to the mortal realm.

"Rouge, is there some way for you to know?" Blue asked him, and now everyone – save for Orlouge and the Time Lord – looked at the ghost. Rouge's mouth slanted. There was no way for _him_ to know. But _Ciato_ was a different story.

'_I wouldn't know, but if she possessed anyone other than Ciato, they would_,' Rouge replied honestly, and Blue's lips thinned, '_Except that she didn't, and we know it._'

"Which means we need Ciato back to know for sure if our demon's the culprit for this, too," Blue concluded. Rouge nodded bitterly. He looked down toward the ditch, where Ciato's body was still lying. Orlouge and the Time Lord were working fervently to heal him. But only the physical scars would disappear; Ciato would still be damaged from of Baeladeen's possession.

"Is there a way we could contact him without his body?" Zozma asked, and Rouge looked at him squarely, "You don't have a body, Rouge. Couldn't you do it?" Rouge's eyes watered. He wanted to. But Ciato's soul wasn't in that dimension. It wasn't gone, it just simply wasn't there.

'_Don't you think I've tried?_' the ghostly magician asked sadly. His tone tugged at Blue, reminded him of how fragile Rouge felt before his soul was split from his body. Did Ciato ever feel that way? Did Ciato know Rouge felt that way?

Blue took a breath. As fast as Orlouge and the Time Lord were working, they weren't getting any closer to securing the body. Looking at the terminal, Blue asked, "Fuse, can that terminal find people? Or just inconsistencies?"

"Anything that could cause a temporal or spatial paradox, I think," Fuse replied, and his tone turned suspicious, "Why?" Blue gave a small smile. A new idea hit him. He was just sad it hadn't hit him earlier. It might've saved them half an hour.

"Because I'm thinking we should search for a demon named Baeladeen," Blue said slyly. For a long moment, silence reigned on the group. Then, Ildon gave a wicked grin as Zozma chuckled madly. Of course. That was probably the first thing they should've done. It definitely would've been the easiest.

Then, they remembered that they still had Ren and Cindy right there. Jerking his thumb toward them, Zozma asked, "What do we do with the extra baggage?"

"Hey!" Ren yelled, as Cindy said, "We can _hear_ you, you pompous ass." Of course, such an insult only seemed to make Zozma laugh. Mainly because, to him, idiots were saying it. He grinned.

"Good. Now you know your place," he commented, and promptly ignored their protests as he turned back to the terminal, "Seriously, though, what do we do? Want me to cuff them?" Blue looked at him flatly. Not only did they _not_ have hand-cuffs, there was also _nothing_ to secure them to. Cindy's comment was holding up; Zozma was just being an ass.

"I want you to shut your mouth," Fuse growled, and that ended any nonsense Zozma was going to bring. To Blue, he said, "I'm searching for our demon, boy. Turns out you stumbled on something." Blue gave Rouge a knowing smile, and both twins looked toward the portal in anticipation. There was a long moment where they heard nothing but steady typing. Even Cindy and Ren seemed to be waiting for the news.

It finally came. Taking a long breath, Fuse said, "Turns out that wherever the inconsistencies spawned, Ciato ended up being there." Ildon, Zozma, Blue, and Rouge all exchanged terrified glances. So Ciato had been involved. But how much so? Baeladeen was powerful. Could she have possessed him when she needed him?

"He caused this, too!" Ildon finally exclaimed, his voice bordering on disbelief, almost anger. Throwing his arms up, he asked, "What else has that idiot done!" Blue, of course, brought reasoning to temper the Mystic's fury. He laid a hand on Ildon's arm.

"This wasn't his fault. It's quite possible Baeladeen was in control," he reminded the green-haired man. Ildon opened his mouth, but found no argument. He forced himself to calm down. Blue was right. Ciato was already falling through the fringes of insanity centuries before. Any push would've sent him spiraling for eternity.

Zozma's lips thinned. He had a feeling they'd even seen one of those instances. He turned from his friends, back toward the terminal. Grimly, he asked, "Can you list some of those instances?" Fuse complied easily enough. They heard a beep.

"He was seen running through the forest when Cindy disappeared," Fuse began, and something in Zozma changed, "Someone swears they saw him on the rooftop when Joker broke out of Ren's apartment. Then there was the time we found him with Nomad. Granted, he was unconscious and we didn't question him…" Blue's eyes went wide and glassy as Fuse rattled on. That was… god, that felt so long ago. But Fuse was right. Ciato had been there, and though they caught Nomad, Blue had only bluffed about the notes and the clues to try scaring her. Those things had been coincidental; he only hoped they'd held some credence to her.

He quietly looked to Rouge, who seemed just as shocked as he was. Then, that shock faded, and what replaced it was sadness. Rouge felt they should've known. They should've stayed and interrogated Ciato about it. Instead, they left as quickly as they'd come. And for what? To punch a time card in? Regretfully, Rouge said, '_We should've handled our missions differently, bro._' Blue didn't want to think like that. But looking back, perhaps they should have.

"We should have," Blue quietly agreed, not knowing what else to say. The answers had been right there, so blindingly obvious. If only they had stayed! But they couldn't have known. They didn't have enough time to search.

"Regrets aren't going to mean shit if we don't fix whatever it is we have to fix," Ren said firmly, and Blue looked up at him. Gentler, Ren added, "Look, I can regret that I fell and left Emelia for two years. But I'm not going to. Want to know why?" Blue tilted his head curiously. Ren pointed to the dim lights around them, "Pretend one of them is our world. I won't regret it, because bringing me back means you can save the world. You can make it right now. You couldn't do that before." Blue hadn't thought of it that way. And if Ren hadn't been brought back, he would never see Emelia again. Cindy would never keep CTC the way her father wanted. Stephen would never be returned to his rightful reality.

They all deserved to have their lives the way it was supposed to be. Blue understood now why Ren said what he did. Rouge understood it, too. Blue took a deep breath. They had to do a few more things before they could say they were done with the terminal. "Fuse, our mission with Nomad was before the one with Anita and Joker, right?"

"It was. It was your first case," Fuse reminded him skeptically. Blue gave a smile that said that Fuse gave him all he needed to know.

"Then, realistically, if you put us in that time, we could stop Baeladeen before dealing with Anita and Stephen, right?" the mage suggested. Fuse's mouth dropped open, and he pressed a button to drop one of the sides of the terminal. He needed Blue to see him. His expression would mean more.

"Blue, that's a dangerous road to take, boy," Fuse warned him, "You're risking seeing yourself in the past. You know what could happen." Blue, in fact, did know. And in that past, he might've agreed. But this was different. That case was a crucial turning point. Ignoring Ciato might've been what gave Anita so much headway. Especially if she was in contact with the demon.

"We're doing it," Blue said adamantly, and Fuse was shocked at the lack of leeway in his voice, "Fuse, we know the demon was near when Ren and Cindy were switched. It stands to reason that she would want to keep a close eye on the alternates if she was involved. If we go back in time and remove her, you could switch Cindy and Anita back, and put Ren in the proper place." Ren and Cindy both seemed to support this tactic.

Unfortunately, the others – Rouge included – were not so sure. Not because Blue was wrong, but because of the skills involved. A careful and precise hand would be needed. They'd have to make the switches at the _exact second_ Baeladeen was dealt with. If they didn't, Anita couldn't be tracked, and Ren might not have the power to go back into his body. Blue would need to be strong enough to hold Baeladeen down, and Fuse would need the Time Lord's help in putting the pieces back in proper time.

"Blue, how _sure_ are you that Baeladeen was involved?" Ildon asked him, as Fuse debated it with himself. Blue looked over at him. There was a certainty in the man's eyes that had rarely been there before. It surprised even Rouge.

"I'll be sure when I go back and interrogate Ciato during that mission," Blue replied, and Fuse's lips slanted. He looked at his boss. The cop felt trapped now. Businesswise, they should have questioned Ciato, and Fuse knew it. It was IRPO's fault in giving them the time crunch. But it had been their own fault for not following procedures at the expense of their bosses. Blue's suggestion was the right thing to do. Blue was willing to take responsibility for it. Fuse knew that, if he was going to lead by example, he'd have to do the same.

"You're tying my hands, boy," Fuse told him, and Blue just grinned, "All right. We'll send you back. But you're going to have to play by my rules, too." Blue's brow arched. Fuse reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small radio. He handed it to the mage, "We don't issue these until you reach Captain status. But if you're going to go back, we need a way to communicate."

"What about you?" Blue asked. Silence grinned this time, and he glided over, taking out his own radio.

'_We all play a part in this, whoever is gathered now,_' Silence said simply, '_This is my part. I'll be the second radio._'

"Silence was always the smart one," Ren said proudly, and Fuse nodded in agreement. Blue smiled warmly. IRPO was sent on various missions to save the world from the evils of crime. IRPO – what was left of it, anyway – would do just that, on a much bigger scale. And Silence was right. They each had their parts. Fuse would be the one to send Blue back in time. Silence would be their way of communicating. Ren would be the tool to set Stephen back on the path of his own reality. Blue would be the one to set that path right and stop Baeladeen. And the others? They'd protect IRPO as the four did their jobs well.

"Are we ready to send me back?" Blue asked, thinking the details were all worked out. Rouge just looked at him.

'_You are NOT going alone!_' Rouge told him very sternly, '_I'm going with you._'

"What! But how!" Zozma asked him in exasperation, "You're just a spirit!" Rouge smirked, a look that said he knew something that everyone either didn't know, or simply forgot.

'_Only in this reality,_' he reminded them. That was when Blue realized Rouge's role in this ordeal as well. And that was, like Blue, to stop Baeladeen and put everyone in their proper places. Or, at least, to clear the way so that the Time Lord could do it.

"Someone had better go and get the Time Lord, then," Ildon suggested grimly. He exchanged a glance with Zozma, and the red-headed Mystic understood that they expected him to play messenger. He shook his head and just laughed. For being the First Prince of the court, he sure was charged with a lot of stupid tasks.

"What about Ciato's body?" he asked them all. This time, Ildon laughed. Zozma knew why, too. The Time Lord wasn't exactly playing watchdog alone. Orlouge was with him. Orlouge felt guilty enough with his own corruption, let alone the corruption Ciato had faced.

"This is where our lord steps into _his_ role in this adventure," Ildon mused. Zozma laughed again, a cackle that went thundering through the entire realm. Then, he vanished from sight, only to reappear near where the two now-confused Mystic Lords stood.

It only took a few minutes for everyone to take their places. Zozma had relayed the message, and as soon as he did, the Time Lord was running up to the pedestal where the others stood, waiting. He hadn't liked the idea of sending Blue and Rouge back into the past. In fact, he hated it. But by the time he'd actually reached the two brothers, they had become so adamant with their plans that not even Fuse could get them to listen to another side of the argument. The Time Lord knew he'd just have to roll with it. So be it. He hadn't lived through millennia by _not_ being flexible about time.

The Time Lord and Fuse worked in tandem to produce a portal that would send Blue and Rouge back in time, back to right after – or maybe even before – they had caught Nomad hiding within Fascinaturu. It took power, a lot of power. Fuse could hear wincing within the _Shard of Time_, and was half-afraid that the power being consumed would cause the tiny piece to shatter. But finally, a portal had been made. At first, it took the form of a ghostly door, similar to the ones in the alternate Dungeon of Light. Then, the center darkened into that familiar, shimmering purple swirl. Out of it came the energies of magic from thousands of years past. It burned both brother's noses to smell.

Looking at his ghostly twin, Blue asked, "Are you ready?" Rouge nodded, his expression far more serious than Blue remembered ever seeing.

"I'm always ready to save the world," Rouge said, and smiled wryly, "Blue, let's go and do things the right way this time." Blue nodded. But before they could step forward, the Time Lord came forth, looking as grim as Ildon had before. Blue tilted his head curiously.

"Boys, before you leave, I want you to know that this change could affect everything in this realm as well as the reality we knew," the Time Lord told them seriously, yet gently enough to not scare them, "Once you leap in, we may not be able to get you out right away. Not until we change what must be changed." Blue and Rouge already understood this. Still, the sentiment comforted them.

Without another interruption, both magicians leapt right into the portal. Darkness consumed them entirely, and at first, it was hard to tell if they were falling, or if they were still alive. Then, they felt a strange sensation, as though they were moving backwards, yet moving so quickly that not even their bodies could perceive it. There was a moan in the air; it came from all directions at once. Rouge at once felt his own form growing in substance, until he felt heavy and lethargic. It'd take some time to get used to not being a spirit any longer.

Slowly, the world came back into focus as the darkness ebbed away. The colors were blurred, yet vibrant to their sensitive eyes – it took minutes even for Blue before he could actually identify anything he was looking at. But when he did, they realized they were standing in a bedroom. The walls were dark and gnarled, like the inside of a tree. Only a few crystals pulsed dimly, but they illuminated the room well enough. There was a bookcase in the far corner, and a large bed near an arched window that overlooked a garden far below. The bed, Blue saw, was in shambles, however. The sheets were in disarray, and he could see that they had been cut to near ribbons. There was also blood streaked on them, and scraps of leather strewn about the pillows.

His memory still swimming, Rouge looked around and asked, "Where are we?" Blue was already examining the bed. He recognized the place, knew it instantly. Fuse had done a good job setting up the coordinates.

"Ciato's room," Blue told him quietly, almost in a whisper, "Look. Nothing's been moved, and the notes are still on his desk." Rouge looked over at the vanity that served as the Mystic's writing desk. There were papers and notebooks littering it. He stalked over. Dates and times had been recorded.

"The days he went to communicate with Nomad during the break-ins! I remember these!" Rouge exclaimed, and Blue urged him to hush his voice, "If they haven't been moved, then technically we haven't even been in here yet." Blue nodded. That gave them more or less about an hour to find and interrogate the elusive Mystic.

"My guess is, we're on our way here now," Blue stated, tapping his chin, "Nomad probably knew we were onto her before we even got on the plane." Rouge understood. Ciato had clearly been attacked already, by the looks of the bed.

"So we have to figure out where she stashed Ciato?" Rouge asked. Blue grinned.

"We already know. She hid him in the attic underneath a tarp," Blue reminded him, "The only thing is, we'll have to avoid her and get Ciato to safety. From what I remember, she was almost holding him hostage."

"So, you think Ciato made the deals with her, or Baeladeen?" Rouge asked slyly, as Blue moved toward the closed door, and pressed his ear to it. He listened for any activity on the other side before answering; there was no use making it easy to get caught.

"Baeladeen. That's why I said we had to make the change here," Blue explained, putting his hand on the knob. He looked back at Rouge, "If I had to guess, Baeladeen was using Anita to get the irradiated metal to her, and was going to use Nomad to keep IRPO from finding out. In turn, Anita bribed the Cygnus into carrying it, which was why they had it on the ship at all." Rouge hummed. At the time, all of their cases seemed random. But now it started to make sense. He remembered Red saying their boss had been bribed. Red even said they had trouble with CTC.

"But why go after Ciato if they were working together?" Rouge asked him, as Blue quietly wedged the door open. He saw the hall was clear. Blue looked back at his twin. That spark of certainty was back in his eye again. Rouge blinked, and swallowed hard.

"Because it wasn't Ciato she was working with," Blue told him grimly, "Baeladeen had only a little control on him. As soon as he found a way to push his limits, he did. He broke free. He tried to stop Nomad. Baeladeen, if she had contact with Nomad, might've warned the woman about Ciato's persistence." That would definitely give Nomad a reason to kidnap Ciato. And to punish him that severely. Rouge shivered.

"We're going to rescue Ciato, aren't we?" he asked quietly. Blue's expression softened. Rouge sounded so worried. All the older mage could do was nod.

"If we can, we will," Blue promised him, "We stop Baeladeen here, and he'll be free. And we'll be able to save Cindy and Ren as well." Rouge nodded. Then, they slipped into the dark hall. Blue looked around quickly; he could hear someone on the upper floor. Then, he motioned for Rouge to follow, and to be silent about it. Together, they sprinted down, turning a few feet down the hall into a narrow, dark corridor.

What they didn't know was that someone had already seen them. That someone was hiding in the shadows, and she held a talker up to her mouth. "Baeladeen, we have a problem. You're going to have two unwanted guests in about five minutes."

-(End Chapter)

With Cindy and Ren in the New Dimension, plans are underway to fix all of the damage Baeladeen caused while in possession of Ciato. But those plans require Blue and Rouge to go and change the one case they had that made all the difference in Ciato's corrupted conquest against the world. The brothers fearlessly plunge themselves into the past, but can they find the battered Mystic before Baeladeen comes into power? Or will she and Nomad torture and kill Ciato before the past Blue and Rouge catch them? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	53. Bound by Eternal Law

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they say they should've hired me when they created the game. I had to remind them that even with me, the limitations they had when editing the game would've made my efforts for naught. I just hope they know the Xbox 360 has way more capabilities.

Since neither brother knew their way through Fascinaturu – and more pointed, through Chateau Aguille – it took considerable effort to figure out what direction they were running in, and it took only minutes before they became too lost to know. Back in the past, Orlouge had led them straight to Ciato's chambers, and then to the treasury. In the past, they didn't have to sneak through the shadowed halls and weave into labyrinths of seemingly endless stairways. But this wasn't the past any longer. They didn't have Orlouge. So, to put it simply, they wound up getting lost within the first few minutes. Needless to say, neither brother was particularly happy with themselves, or with each other.

"Well, this is just wonderful," Rouge grumbled, as he waited in the shadows when Blue poked his head through into what he hoped was a main hallway. There was little light in the hall; he saw only three torches and thin slits of moonlight through the windows. He sighed.

"Be patient, Rouge. We're not doomed yet," Blue whispered tiredly. But the truth was, they were far more screwed than he wanted to admit. He couldn't even be sure of which floor they were on. He remembered going up a set of stairs. But in Fascinaturu, just because you went up, never meant you'd _stay_ up. For all he knew, they were in a basement.

"We should've asked for a map," Rouge stated unhelpfully, crossing his arms as he waited for Blue to get back into hiding, "We'll never find Ciato at this rate."

"We just need to figure out how to find the treasury. How did Orlouge do it?" Blue asked. Rouge just stared, brow arched. He couldn't possibly remember. The case was barely remarkable in his mind, except that Ciato had been severely injured. So, in effect, had Rastaban.

"How the hell would I remember that?" Rouge countered in exasperation. Blue's eyes narrowed. If he didn't serve some purpose in the plan, Blue would've punched his brother right then. But Rouge would be the key to freeing Ciato. Blue knew it.

Instead of relying on that gut instinct of his, Blue simply returned to waiting. Perhaps the best idea would've been to ask someone about the treasury. Then, Blue understood the complications. Mystics didn't trust humans – a fact warranted, considering human carelessness in regards to magic. To ask about the protected vaults of a Mystic Lord would more than arouse just a bit of suspicion. It could get them both imprisoned, and would definitely shatter their reality into non-existence. So, whatever he was waiting for, Blue himself didn't know yet. He just knew he had to be patient.

His patience paid off quickly. When he heard footsteps, he crept back into the darkness beside his twin, and they both looked out. At first, only a long shadow was cast on the carpeted ground. When that shadow turned the corner, they saw its caster was Rastaban. He seemed casual. They must have come back just before Ciato – or rather, Baeladeen – attacked the gentle Mystic prince. Maybe the encounter would be sooner rather than later.

Rastaban passed the corridor without giving it a glance, and stopped only when he saw Ciato walking down the opposite way. To spot other Mystics among the Chateau was not rare, but Ciato rarely left his quarters. That was enough to cause Rastaban to stop, and curiously say, "Hello, Ciato. I never expected to see you out here."

"Out of my way. I have to leave," Ciato snapped furiously, passing the prince swiftly. Rastaban blinked, and then stiffened. He smelled something, a scent that was there, yet not truly there. A scent of darkness, one that did not belong on Ciato. Rastaban turned, studying his fellow prince. Something was wrong with Ciato's gait.

"Where are you going, Ciato?" Rastaban called gently. Ciato stopped, looked back. His eyes were narrowed, and a very deep red. Were they too late, Blue wondered?

"…I have to leave the castle for a while," Ciato said calmly, "Just… trust me." Rastaban did. But that didn't stop him from worrying. Out of all the princes, Ciato was the most enigmatic. And his methods were by far the darkest. Rastaban took a step forward, taking a deep breath. If he wasn't careful, this could turn ugly.

"Did you inform our lord?" the younger Mystic asked. Ciato looked away. That was a clear sign that he _did not_. Rastaban frowned. That wouldn't bode well.

"He doesn't need to know everything we do," Ciato said firmly, and turned away again, "Please, leave me be." He walked away.

Somehow, Rastaban couldn't let himself do it. He couldn't let Ciato walk out of the castle. He trusted him. He loved him. But to do so without informing Orlouge was simple lunacy. If the Charm Lord figured out Ciato had disappeared, hell would literally break loose. And if he suspected any disloyalty at all… Ciato wouldn't live long enough to explain himself. No, not even Ciato deserved such a cruel fate. So, Rastaban ran after him, and reached out for his hand as he said, "Please, tell me what troubles you!"

It was a pointless mistake. As soon as the contact was made, Ciato shrieked and turned, his sword drawn. He turned so abruptly that he slashed Rastaban's arm, ripping the sleeve and leaving a deep gash where metal met flesh. Rastaban staggered, staring up at Ciato with wide eyes. Never had he been attacked for so minor a disruption! And never once by Ciato. Not by a man, at one time _the_ man, he loved so dearly! The wound cut deep. The knowledge that it was from Ciato cut far deeper.

"Leave me alone," Ciato snarled viciously, "I am not the man you know anymore." Rastaban knew it. He had sensed it briefly, periodically throughout the centuries. But he had known something was changing. He stood again, ignoring his bleeding arm for the moment. He could heal himself later. Ciato needed help now.

"Ciato, dear, you can trust me," Rastaban reminded him gently, "I want to help you. I love you so much." Ciato spat, looked away.

"You love Ildon, not me," he said bitterly. Rastaban felt pangs of guilt. He was, despite his attempts not to be, very much like Orlouge. He _had_ committed to Ciato, several years ago. That fell apart when they both met Ildon, and now the two were locked in a fierce war over who had truly won Rastaban's heart.

"Please, don't do this to me," Rastaban pleaded, "Don't leave, Ciato. Tell me what is happening to you. I will help you." Ciato glared. Then, he hesitated. He wanted to tell someone about the demon within him. He wanted to expel it, to destroy it. But could he do it without hurting Rastaban?

He wasn't sure. But his fellow prince wasn't giving him a choice. He sighed, relented, and said, "There is a dangerous monster inside of me, Rastaban. It has been with me for centuries, since the destruction of our last kingdom. I fear its power is growing too great, and I can't control it." For a long moment, Rastaban said nothing. He was in mortal shock.

Then, slowly, he asked, "Why have you kept it so long?" It wasn't accusatory. It was gentle, soft, and concerned. Rastaban was good at making one feel safe in confiding in him. Ciato's guard dropped slightly.

"To spare you, Zozma, and Ildon the pain this demon can cause," Ciato said truthfully, "But she's planning something. And it's happening, and happening quickly. Rastaban, I have to leave. I have to protect you all." Rastaban wanted nothing to do with it. Ciato would die if that demon took complete control of him. Ciato wouldn't come back, and wouldn't be saved. He would never see the Bat Knight again…

No! Rastaban would never want that! Before Ciato could protest, Rastaban threw his arms around the distressed Mystic and held him. Then, he cried. Rastaban had never cried before, but the thought of losing Ciato made him feel so weak, on the verge of collapse. Ciato had always been there. Sure, he was surly and sarcastic, but he had been stable, solid. He had been there when no one else was. Quietly, Rastaban said, "I love you, Ciato." For a second, Ciato's normally sour expression faded away. He looked gentle, almost happy.

That second faded rapidly. Ciato snarled, fell to his knees and clutched his forehead. Then, his eyes flashed, a deeper shade of red than they normally were. As he stood up, he began to laugh – it sounded demonic and horribly _unlike_ Ciato. Rastaban backed away. At first, he was terrified. What was happening to his beloved Ciato! Then, he began to realize the severity of the situation. He drew his sword. Ciato simply turned and said, "My, what sort of love is _that?_" It sounded so unlike Ciato, it made Rastaban's nerves screech.

"What have you done with Ciato?" the prince asked slowly, dangerously. Any love in his voice was gone. Replacing it was a wave of anger. Slow, yet boiling anger. Whatever was inside of Ciato was simply chuckling.

"Me? Absolutely nothing," it replied innocently, mockingly, "I simply took over when he grew too weak." Rastaban's teeth clenched, his hand gripping his sword tightly. He wanted to destroy the demon. But he knew he'd end up killing Ciato in the process.

"Give him back to me," Rastaban growled, sounding as much unlike himself as Ciato had, "Give him back, or I swear I will send you screaming back to whence you came." At first, the demon reeled back, shocked. She had been sure Rastaban would fall under her charms. Now, she knew why he wasn't. He loved Ciato; Ciato was no female. But Baeladeen was. This was… not good.

"Take me down and you kill this man, as well," she threatened truthfully. Rastaban already knew what could happen. But what could he do? Could he actually kill Ciato?

"Why have you possessed him? What do you want?" Rastaban demanded furiously. Death wasn't the only way to rid a place of demonic energy. Bargains worked amazingly well. The God of Death himself taught Rastaban that. Unfortunately, Baeladeen rarely bargained with anyone. She eyed the Mystic.

"I want to destroy Oblivion," she said simply, "I want to release the planes of Hell. To do it, I need a starting point."

"Fascinaturu…" Rastaban whispered. But, to his surprise, Baeladeen shook her head. Her smile… Ciato's smile turned cruel.

"No, little boy. Your world is already cloaked in enough darkness," she told him, "I need a world technologically sound enough to be used as a weapon against all mortals. This particular world sits next to one such place. One that I believe Ciato likes going to." Rastaban's eyes widened. The world Asellus came from… he couldn't remember the name, but he knew multiple high-powered organizations based themselves there. In particular, there was CTC and Trinity. Blue and Rouge, who were still hiding in shadow, didn't miss that fact, either.

"You aren't leaving this castle," Rastaban informed her, and his wings unfolded – dark black draconic wings that put even Ciato's to shame. But rather than be intimidated by the sheer power pouring off of the angered prince, Baeladeen just grinned. To her, this was going to be fun. And very bloody.

She never expected she would have three foes, however. Blue and Rouge seized the opportunity for an ambush. As soon as she lunged for Rastaban, Blue unleashed a high-powered Energy Chain that sent her crashing to the ground. Rouge followed the attack with the Saber card. Baeladeen found herself paralyzed and punctured in a matter of a few agonizing seconds. And the source of those two spells was unlike anything she'd ever encountered. Such raw power!

"Try anything and you're dead, demon," Blue said simply, as he and Rouge moved out of hiding and into the moonlight. Baeladeen struggled, but couldn't free herself. Both brothers threw in every ounce of hatred into their spells. She was in trouble. She still hadn't recovered from the bullets Fuse pumped into her.

"Hello, boys. I've been waiting," she cooed. Coming from Ciato's body, it was almost unnerving to hear. Rouge snarled. Blue simply scoffed.

"So have we," the older mage told her seriously. He aimed his sword at her neck, Ciato's neck, "We haven't forgiven you for fucking our world over." Rouge had to admit that, coming from Blue, that sounded far more threatening than he expected. Especially since Blue knew exactly how to control himself – as well as when to unleash his divine fury.

Baeladeen knew she had to be careful. Eyes narrowing, she asked, "Can't you forgive a girl for a tiny mistake?"

"Show us a girl and we'll consider it," Rouge spat, looking even more venomous than Blue was. Baeladeen's expression twisted for a minute. This wasn't right. Her charm should have infected one of them by now. But it wasn't working. Why wasn't it working?

Somehow, Ciato was the key. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that if she was going to escape, it'd be through Ciato. But how should she use him? A shield seemed effective; Rastaban and Rouge both were going to be hesitant about slaying the prince in question. But Blue didn't have that loyalty. Blue was a different story, and for him, Baeladeen had no true protection. But she still had an idea. Her smile became a little less cruel, a little more sly. Blue didn't trust her change any more than before now. Rouge was the same make. Quietly, she said, "You wouldn't hurt Ciato now, would you?" Rouge looked at Blue, and Blue sourly wished he hadn't.

Blue wished he hadn't promised he'd try to keep Ciato alive. Right then, Ciato was their biggest liability. They had to separate demon from Mystic. Doing that when she was in possession was nearly impossible without tools. Tools they didn't have. Furiously, Blue said, "No, we wouldn't." He knew Rouge could tell he didn't want to give his word away. Baeladeen knew it, too.

"I propose a deal," she said calmly, when the Sabers began to vanish. The Energy Chain was still going, still pinning her. But it wasn't hurting her too badly anymore.

"We don't make dealings with demons unless we're already dead," Blue began, before Rouge or Rastaban could intervene. Both of them stared at him, but he knew that if he was going to do this without killing anyone, it'd be through cunning, not through love and emotion like they had. That much, he was at least glad he had stayed in the Magic Kingdom for.

"You will be soon, if you don't hear me out," Baeladeen informed him, and for once, she sounded far more serious than coy. Blue was suspicious. But he knew when to keep his mouth shut. He lowered his sword fractionally. Baeladeen understood she was meant to talk, "You don't think I knew you'd be coming back."

"We're aware you've been using Nomad since you entered her world and convinced her to join you," Blue told her bluntly, "We knew we'd be dealing with you."

"Ah, but you don't know everything," she said, grinning a bit, "Using the terminal has given me insight on events that shouldn't have passed, yet are passing at this moment. I knew you would come back and face me here. I even knew you'd best me quickly. That's why I've put in some… insurance." Rouge's brow arched.

"Insurance?" he repeated incredulously.

"Though I am a Lower Demon of Hell, I do not need my victim's body to remain in this world. Think of Ciato as a puppet, and my connection to him being ventriloquism," she explained, "Once the puppet is dead, my voice is gone. But that doesn't mean I'm dead. Far from it." Blue still didn't understand why that should worry them. He eyed the demon. What was she getting at?

"And your insurance?" the older mage urged. Baeladeen's grin turned wicked again. Her eyes glinted.

"When Ciato dies, the expulsion of my demonic energy will send this castle… this world crumbling into the farthest depths of the abyss," she answered, "This world is one of the few Mystic settlements, and a conical source of power in Oblivion itself. Without it, the worlds its magic encompasses will begin to dry out. Eventually, they will crumble as well, and the chain reaction will begin to warp additional planes within this sector of Oblivion." Well, shit. Put in simple terms, no matter what they did, they were screwed. Baeladeen was a smart demon.

"But because of your exposure to the Celestial Terminal, you'll remain safe no matter what dimension you're on," Blue concluded. Baeladeen's smile told him he was right. No wonder she wasn't worried when they had actually hit her. She was still safe, still unharmed. It was only Ciato who was suffering.

"There is more," she told them, and Blue's expression hardened again, "Once Oblivion begins to crumble, time will warp as well, and I'll bring forth the most powerful beings that had been sealed within Oblivion's heart in the past. I'll raise an army to battle mortals and claim Oblivion for the plane of Hell."

"That's a lot of words for one demon," Blue said after a long, thoughtful moment, "What makes you sure you can achieve it? There are demons far stronger than you."

"None of them touched that terminal," Rouge reminded him. Blue cursed. Of course. Baeladeen didn't need a high rank to cause the destruction she was boasting. She had the power to shatter the fabrics of time. Right now, she was restraining it. She wanted something only in this reality.

"What are you after in this reality?" Blue asked her, and she tilted her head, "If you have the power to do this, why haven't you? What are you waiting for?" Part of him wondered if the radiated alloy played any part in this. Its arrival in Manhattan was only days away, after all.

Baeladeen seemed to read his thoughts. She shook her head and said, "You'll foil those attempts soon and well enough. But with what I've seen, my target is far greater." She let a moment of long silence draw itself before continuing, "Espers can stop the flow of demonic energy, but most of the ones residing within the worlds are only of the Chesaer caste – useless peons who can't seal anything. There are only a handful of Princes strong enough to stop the darkness. And only one who could successfully battle against the army I would raise." Now Blue understood. Baeladeen was going to go after Sith next. And Ciato, Mystic as he was, would be able to enter the ruins of Aeroglyph to find her. And if Ciato failed, there were other Mystics of his caliber. Others Sith would trust.

"Sith," Blue said. Baeladeen chuckled.

"She is strong, but most of her power slowed after she put an end to the Lord of Madness's tyranny," Baeladeen explained, "She is beginning to age, slowly, but all I have to do is wait. Another two hundred years, she will be as powerless as the people she protected." And in the meantime, until Sith found out about the destruction, Baeladeen could cause it in abandon.

"We'll kill you before then," Rouge promised. Baeladeen laughed, and pointed to herself, to Ciato.

"Remember what will happen if my puppet should die," she reminded them gleefully. Rouge growled. This was almost maddening. And they couldn't leave her alive, not when Nomad was close.

"We need a plan," Rouge mumbled to his brother. Blue's lips thinned. He agreed; they needed one, and they needed it badly. But they had no help. They dove into this alone, and if they involved Rastaban, there stood a chance of creating a temporal paradox. Not even Sith could fix that, should she find out.

"Want to try running?" Blue asked him. Rouge snorted.

"We need a _better_ plan," he replied, and after a moment, he said, "We need this Esper of ours. Sith." Blue agreed with that, too. But there were too many problems with that. For one, they had no idea where she would be. From the looks of it, she didn't like her own world enough to reside there entirely.

"Not happening. We don't know her yet, not in this time zone," Blue reminded him bitterly. Rouge stared at him. That wasn't a good enough excuse. By law, Sith was bound to aid whatever world pleaded with her. All they had to do was summon her.

Then Rouge realized why it wasn't happening. There was nowhere to summon her. Baeladeen was right there, and Nomad wasn't far behind. Not to mention they had their own past selves to contend with, plus the other Mystics, plus Fuse, and plus Red. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere private. And unless they wanted to alert Orlouge that they were bringing an Esper into his realm, they had to summon her only in a secluded area, where she could conceal herself before causing too much of a commotion. She may have been Sith Winchester, but she wasn't completely silent. She couldn't control what a portal decided to swallow up, or spit out.

First thing to do, he decided, was to get Baeladeen far enough away to secure a spot to get Sith. He glanced at Blue. The man's face was unreadable. There was no way to communicate Rouge's idea without physically giving them away. Hoping Blue might understand, Rouge faced Baeladeen and said, "If we let you go, you promise not to harm Ciato?" As expected, Blue was glaring at him. Baeladeen smiled.

"Let me go and I promise your death will be quick _after_ I deal with your past," she told them both. Rouge hated feeling Blue's fury, but all they needed were ten minutes. Five to get a room, four and a half to summon Sith, and ten seconds to explain why they needed her before she killed them for their idiocy. Rouge just wanted room for error.

"Then go," he said, which shocked Blue far more than pissing him off, "We won't bother you. Pretend we never came here." Baeladeen eyed him for a second. But she wasn't about to go questioning idiots. She cackled and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two brothers with one very confused, very scared Mystic Prince.

Coincidentally, that was when Blue wheeled on his brother and yelled, "_What the hell did you think you were doing_?" Rouge winced. Blue rarely lost his temper. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Before you get mad, just hear me out," Rouge said simply. Blue crossed his arms, tapped his foot. He looked far more intimidating than Rouge was comfortable with.

"You have ten seconds before I kill you myself," the older mage growled, and pointed to where Baeladeen had been seconds before, "You just let the bitch-goddess from Hell escape." Ten seconds was how long Rouge thought they'd more or less have once Sith came by. This was a decent test run to see how fast he could do the talking.

"That's because I want Sith to deal with this," Rouge said to him. He didn't think such a suggestion could've made the situation worse. Somehow, it had. Blue's eye twitched.

"What part of _we don't know her_ do you not understand!" Blue asked him furiously. Rouge was convinced, though. If anyone could fix this, it was Sith. His brow arched as he searched for the right words before Blue snapped.

"Sith's bound by eternal law, bro," he reminded his twin, "We call her, she has to listen. She can't say 'no' because of some technical bullshit like _knowing us_." Blue's face twisted into several furious expressions. He seemed unable to decide which one was most fitting, considering his brother just let a demon run loose. But Rouge also had a point. If they did summon Sith, she would _have_ to listen to them before she simply decided they wasted her time. Blue couldn't just explode on him for this.

Turning instead to Rastaban, Blue asked, "Is there any room we can use where we won't be disturbed?" Rastaban looked at him, and blinked for a long time. He had no idea what the _hell_ just happened, or who these two were. But here they were, asking for his help. The question was, was he willing to help them? Oddly enough, something inside of him told him to answer. He nodded.

"Y-yes. In here," he said, and led them down the hall and toward a locked door. He quickly unlocked it, opened it for them, "This is my chamber. You may do what you need in here." Blue nodded and smiled. Always count on Rastaban to see you through. Even if he really didn't want to.

"Thank you. I promise, we'll be out soon enough," the older mage said to him, clapping the flustered prince on the shoulder. Rastaban buckled a bit, but smiled weakly. He may have been confused, but he knew at the very least that Ciato was in danger, and these two were going to save him.

"Please, just save Ciato," the gentle prince pleaded, and then walked away. Rouge watched him go silently, and then he sighed when the prince was out of sight. He had always been so sure of his own feelings. He had been sure that he cared about Ciato, in some way. But seeing Rastaban so concerned… Rouge was wondering if he felt envious.

Blue sensed this and said, "It'll work out. Come on. We have a summoning to perform." Rouge nodded absently, but otherwise said nothing. Blue patted his back, and then he led his brother into the room and shut the door.

The room was spacious, considering that Rastaban was the Third Prince in the court. Blue didn't complain as he lit the few small crystals; they illuminated enough of the room for them to see. Rouge immediately went into the desk and brought out whatever writing materials Rastaban had. The quills were sharp; perfect for drawing the runes and symbols needed. He kneeled and began drawing the first circle, inscribing the outer edges with the summoning runes he was taught. As he did so, Blue took out some fine, purple powder from a bag on his hip. He dropped a pinch on each rune, which in turn burned into life and hovered in the air. When he came to the last rune, Rouge began the outer circle, the one that would protect them if Sith – or anything they _didn't_ want to come through – turned hostile.

When the double circle was finished, Blue took the rest of the powder from the pouch and threw it into the center of the first circle. Fire sprang to life, a fire so white that it rippled the air around it and shriveled up the roses sitting on the distant nightstand. The fire blazed the first ring, and then spread out into the second. All the while, it began to dim, going from white, to blue, and then to purple. The smoke wavered, and then settled into a thin, black sphere. Immediately, Blue and Rouge began chanting the spell that would – should! – summon the fickle Queen of Nesce herself. The smoke turned dusky and seemed to lose shape for a few seconds. Then, it solidified into a doorway.

Through that doorway stepped Sith Winchester once again. She looked no younger than Blue had seen her, nor did she look happy or better for the wear. In the light, her skin looked far paler than he thought it had, and her clothes looked more torn, as though she had come from a grueling fight. Yet as soon as she stepped through and saw she was _not_ in Midgar, like she _expected_ to be, any sign that she might be frail was wiped away. Replacing it was an annoyance like no other.

"Where in hell am I?" she demanded immediately, staring at the coffin to the far side of the room, "And who the hell had the gall to summon me?"

"That would be us," Blue said to her, as Rouge added, "Hey, Sith. What's the haps?" Sith turned, stared at them. She wasn't sure she could believe _anyone_ would be stupid enough to try summoning her. Especially when they should've known that Sephiroth was just about to send a nice, little meteor right into an equally nice, little planet. And that the same nice, little meteor was now set to track _her_ down for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. God complexes were bastards like that.

"Tell me you took Sephiroth and dumped him into the Abyss when you called me," she growled unhappily, "Tell me you did _not_ drag me away _right when I was going to kill him!_" Her voice cut throughout the room, made the two twins wince with regret. Whatever was happening, they had a feeling they just fucked it up. Badly.

"Does it help to say what we need you for is probably _worse?_" Rouge asked her. He ducked when a sword went flying his way. It crashed into the wall and stayed there. Now was the time when they should've been running.

"You _idiots_ have two seconds to explain this before I kill you," she spat, crossing her arms. Rouge's mouth dropped. Two seconds! It'd take that long just to get over his terror of her, let alone explain everything he had done to get her here. Yet, he prevailed, through some sheer act of the gods. He told her exactly what was going on, and why she wasn't currently doing battle with the greatest warrior in Oblivion, aside from herself. And when he was done, she asked, "Are you telling me you let a dangerous demon, _who has access to all dimensions_, _leave!_" Rouge's face blanched. That was more or less the truth. At least she didn't have her sword on her.

"We were pretty sure you'd help us," he replied. He found she didn't need her sword to inflict pain. She shot out a blast of fire so quickly, that he almost didn't avoid it. It was only because of Blue's superior reflexes that neither of them were charred. When they recovered, they saw a fury unlike any other. Rouge was thankful for the second circle; it kept Sith from moving a step forward.

"You _assumed_ I would do your bidding for _what_ reason! I have already helped you!" she screamed, and when she hit a solid, invisible wall, she added, "Release me!"

"Sith, you're the only one strong enough to stop Baeladeen!" Blue pleaded. Then, what she said was processed fully. He frowned and asked, "Wait… you remember us?" Sith stopped trying to break down the wall, and stared at him for a second. Her brow arched.

Then, she understood. "I was removed from time three hundred years ago, when magic was still a rarity within mortal worlds," she told them both calmly, all trace of anger gone, "Unless someone tampers with my memories directly, I remember all events to which I was directly involved." That relaxed Blue somewhat. This meant Sith might believe their story a little bit more. But would she actually be able to help them? That was a question he couldn't answer.

"Unless you do something, that may be the case," Blue said to her, "Baeladeen knows we went to you when Kylin was absent. She's going to try taking you down, next." Sith scoffed. Then, she just laughed hysterically. The Lord of Madness herself couldn't take Sith down. Whoever this demon was, would be no problem. Then again, Sith was known for being arrogantly overconfident.

"Let the little bitch try," she replied easily, smirking, "I've dealt with worse."

"So you'll help us?" Rouge asked hopefully. Sith's smirk disappeared instantly.

"I never said I was on your side," she said seriously, and that crashed both brothers' spirits, "However, I do know what's happened. I'd have eventually been summoned, I suppose. I might as well see what I can do." That was far better than trying to kill them. That was, until she asked, "Any idea where you might've sent her to?" Rouge shook his head. Blue had a feeling he might not have that head for long.

Surprisingly, all Sith did was sigh and shake her head. Of course the idiots who caused this wouldn't know where they sent the damn demon. Of course she'd be the one doing the wild goose chase through God-knew-where. Of _course_ she'd have to explain it all to her husband when she returned home. A husband who, from what both twins remembered, had a far less understanding sense of humor. They weren't sure whether her lack of response was good or not.

"If it helps, we _think_ we know where she might be," Rouge said to her. Sith eyed him for a minute. She also understood what he was thinking. That events would unfold exactly as they had before. Too bad the demon already knew better. Things wouldn't be quite that easy anymore.

"Don't assume she'll still be in the vault this time," Sith warned them, and grumbled, "Though I guess I don't blame you. You've already done your share of assumptions today." She was, of course, referring to them _assuming_ she'd help them. It was only because the demon was more dangerous than Sephiroth that she was still there. Sephiroth had some time before he completely destroyed whatever world he was on. Baeladeen could do it in the blink of an eye.

"Hey, be a little nicer! We're desperate!" Rouge whined unhelpfully. Sith's eyes went flat.

"Do you have _any_ idea how many times I've had to hear that?" she asked him, "I'm sick of 'being nice' to morons like you." That was probably a tad harsh on her part, except that Blue knew she didn't particularly give a shit about how harsh she was. To her, this was nothing more than a hassle.

Knowing anything Rouge said would make matters much worse, Blue turned to the Esper and said, "We screwed up. We're sorry. If you don't want to help us, just tell us now and we'll release you." Sith stared at him. Then, she roared with laughter, quite unlike anything Blue had heard in his life. Sith was so small. Her voice shouldn't have been so loud. He feared she might attract the demon. Then again, that might make things easier on her.

"Well, I _don't_, but that doesn't mean I won't," she told him, her tone much more jovial than it had been before. He blinked for a long time. Feeling impatient, she added, "Look, we all have to do things we don't like, Blue. It's part of life. I could get angry and kill you, but the truth is, this is probably my fault to begin with. I'm the one who sent you to Oblivion's Core."

"You didn't make us search for Kylin, give Ciato access to the terminal, and turn him into a raving, stark-mad son of a bitch," Rouge replied, "That one was Kylin himself." Sith arched a brow. She knew much, but there were details to this particular affair she told Aeon not to tell her about. The _stupidity_ of it all was one of them.

"True enough," she said simply, and then paced the length of the room before turning to the brothers again. She needed to think, needed to get a feel for what purpose she'd been summoned. If it was for fighting, they'd have found the demon first. This was something more. Quietly, she said, "Before I do anything, tell me what it is you expect me to do." The twins glanced at each other.

"We thought getting rid of Baeladeen was pretty self-explanatory," Rouge answered. Sith hummed, her eyes narrowing again. Rouge had a feeling whatever he said was probably very dumb, in her mind.

"And how would I do that without shattering the fabrics of reality?" she asked them both, and when their mouths dropped, she said, "Face it. Baeladeen is part of reality. I remove her, it could have negative effects. Severe negative effects."

"Like what?" Rouge blurted out. Sith's glare became slightly more profound.

"For instance, _you_ wouldn't have fallen in love," Sith told him, her voice holding a fury that could snap if he wasn't careful, "Ciato wouldn't have been inclined to run, and you wouldn't have met him so many times. Considering your own feelings, I'd call what could happen a negative effect." But likewise, Baeladeen wouldn't be alive anymore, either. Nothing could outshine that. At least, Rouge thought so.

But when he said this to Sith, she wasn't convinced. She crossed her arms, leaning against the door as she said, "Even if one falls, there's always another to take her place. And usually, the successor is three times as dangerous." That was a grim outlook. Rouge felt that the lives saved alone should've been enough for Sith to agree to remove her. But when he looked again, when he listened to her words again, he realized the fury wasn't from his supposed idiocy. It wasn't because she was particularly annoyed with them. It was something else. He eyed her. She betrayed nothing.

"Did something similar happen to you?" he asked. Sith hesitated.

"Nearly, but not quite," she replied quietly, "Time has been fractured before. When _my_ reality was shattered, the person responsible went into both my past and my husband's. They caused so much damage that my siblings, my husband, and I were removed from reality as a whole." She stopped for a minute and looked at them. They seemed to understand now why she wasn't so willing to help. This happened before. And it'd happen again. Quietly, she said, "Time is like any tool. It can be picked up by the wrong hands and used to crush humanity under its head."

"But we still have to try," Rouge stated, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Their time was running out. Worst off, Sith knew it was running.

"I understand your desire to rid the world of Baeladeen, but you must understand that what you've called me for is a difficult process," Sith told them both sternly, yet not unkindly, "And without much time to think, to plan. You ask a difficult favor yet again." Blue looked away when Rouge glanced questioningly at him. It was true; this wasn't his first dealing with the Esper before them. She had been just as stubborn back then, too. They simply no longer had Aeon or the Time Lord to convince her.

"But can you help us?" Rouge asked her. Sith let out a sigh. That brought her right back to her original statement: there was no way to without causing severe consequences. Blue also understood this.

"How willing are you to change your own realities?" she asked them both. The brothers went quiet, unable to answer. She never said how different things could be. What would they have to give up? Would they have their friends? Would they have each other? Would they even exist? They didn't have those answers, and neither did Sith. It was a hit or miss deal.

Sith wasn't surprised when they couldn't answer her. Normally, she'd have left them on their own to deal with their problems in their own time. But this was personal, in an indirect way. Yes, she could ignore them, but it was only a matter of time until Baeladeen paid her a visit. She'd rather deal with the bitch firsthand, and when the demon least expected it. All they had to do was give her the signal, or let her watch until their own reality ended. Which, by her guess, might be soon if they didn't make a decision. She could sense something was warping in the energetic fields around them. Baeladeen was up to something.

But when minutes passed and the brothers still hadn't answered, she looked critically at them both and said, "Make a decision." Neither had liked that. But they understood her words. They had summoned her, and now they were wasting time. Blue looked down at her.

"Will we at least be able to live?" he asked. She nodded.

"Removing Baeladeen will not affect anything that has happened before the moment I kill her," Sith told him calmly, assuredly, "You both will live. You both might still even be in IRPO. The only difference is that the puppet she has may not meet you." She looked at Rouge. Ultimately, this decision affected him the most. His eyes watered. He remembered how much Rastaban still cared about Ciato. He remembered what Baeladeen had said about Blue being used by Lion. Was he just a tool to Ciato, as well?

It didn't matter. Baeladeen's plan to destroy their world and take down the entirety of the time-space continuum had to be stopped. The millions she already killed deserved a second chance. Ciato deserved his life back. Quietly, Rouge said, "Kill her." Sith nodded, and took out her sword. At that instant, the room dimmed and the wind howled outside. The blade was already glowing purple.

"Removal of a demon is a dangerous process, but your word is my bond. Come," she said darkly, her eyes glowing the faintest red in the darkness, "There is work to be done." With that, she flicked her wrist and the door to the hall burst open. Blue and Rouge looked at each other, and then at Sith's retreating form. Hopefully, Fuse would understand their decision if and when they returned to their friends.

As they followed Sith down the halls, they became acutely aware that the energy in the castle shifted yet again. No longer was it so hostile, so cold. Rather, it became silent, almost timid. It was like walking through a big house, late at night, with the residents asleep in their beds, safe and sound. It was hard to make any noise, yet the silence reminded them they were getting closer. They had a powerful ally now. They had the power to change the future for the better.

And somewhere in a distant dimension, Baeladeen knew she was being cornered. She gave the order for Nomad to kill Ciato.

-(End Chapter)

After getting their bearings straight, Blue and Rouge immediately make way through the twisting corridors of Orlouge's realm, knowing they might never end up where they want to go. But luck isn't with them, for just as suddenly, they find themselves facing the demoness herself, who has already found the first victim she claimed in the past. When they learn that hurting Ciato in any way could bring the entire Mystic world down, they enlist the help of one of the few who can put a stop to Baeladeen's destruction. Sith returns to help our heroes one last time before their world ends. But will the Esper Lord be enough to stop the time-traveling demon? Or will Nomad carry out her orders and succeed in killing Ciato this time? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!


	54. The Anti Climactic Battle

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier. SquareSoft does, and they said if they make SaGa III, they'll be sure to put Sith in as an Easter egg. They said she can be part of Ildon's quest. That's fine with me.

Blue and Rouge may not have had any idea where they had been, but Sith certainly did. She asked for no directions, nor did she give any as she walked through the halls, turning here, taking those stairs, going any which way she felt she should go. She took no notice of the doorways or the torches, gave no heed to the rustling wind or the flickering shadows. In the dim light, her eyes occasionally flashed; they revealed the look of a haunted warrior going on the march in the name of Death. She was hunting a demon. That demon wouldn't live to warn its kind. Rightfully, both brothers were wise enough to not try asking her questions.

It was hard to remember the paths they took or the number of stairs they either ascended or descended. The two brothers simply followed their summoned Esper like shadows. Granted, they both tried to take notes, tried to memorize anything that might help them leave once Sith finished her task. But it was difficult when Sith was walking briskly and refusing to stop to wait up. The one time Rouge made a complaint, she tartly said, "If I waited for every human who summoned me to keep up, billions of your kind would be quite dead." That shut Rouge up effectively. He understood the messages – both of them.

After minutes of stumbling around without any true direction, the three finally came to a stop after ascending a large, spiraling staircase. Most of the steps had been forged from dark crystals, but these ones, Blue noted, had been severely different. These ones were made of stone – crumbling stone, at that. They were quite old, quite uncared for. He also saw that there were no torches any longer. All light coming through came from the rays of moonlight, whichever ones hit this side of the castle. That made the air feel colder, the castle feel almost abandoned. Where was Sith trying to go?

"What part of the castle is this?" Rouge whispered, when Sith did not move, "I don't remember this."

"We are entering the secret passages into the vault, in the back of the castle," she told him calmly, taking a stick out of a holster on the wall. She lit it with magic before continuing, "Baeladeen may not be in the vault, but Nomad is. Baeladeen would not have warned her of your approach." Blue wasn't so sure of that. Nomad was a tool, much like they were. Baeladeen didn't care what ultimately became of her.

"How can you be sure?" he asked her incredulously. Sith turned back at him and smiled. It was sly; in the flicker of her torch, it looked almost cruel.

"Because if she knows I'm here, she wants Ciato dead as soon as possible," was the reply, "And where does that take place?" All three knew the answer. It'd have to happen in the vault, if Baeladeen wanted to arouse as little attention as possible. And they knew why it'd happen. Ciato kept Baeladeen right here, where Sith could easily trace her. Ciato's death would allow her to run before Sith officially found her. That'd make Sith's task harder, but not impossible.

"So we're going to ambush Nomad?" Rouge guessed. Sith nodded, looking up another spiraling stairwell that ascended into complete darkness. She could smell the mildew on the high walls.

"That was my plan, if the climb doesn't kill us first," she admitted. Blue's eyes narrowed and Rouge's face paled. Now wasn't the best time to discourage them from going onward, unless Sith preferred working alone. She didn't. She simply was being honest with them before they put their hand on a slimy rail, not knowing what they should be expecting.

"So this is a _suicide_ attempt?" Rouge blurted out, not quite understanding what they should be cautious about. He hadn't _heard_ any other sign of life, but Baeladeen could summon anything from the astral planes. They wouldn't need to breathe to be there.

Sith chuckled and her smile grew a bit longer as she said, "None of my adventures are complete without one. You should feel honored." It was pretty clear by their expressions, however, that they _didn't_ feel that way. Sith just shrugged. Humans were cowards, after all. If her husband were there, she mused, he'd have found her words funny. Gods, she missed him.

They climbed the stairs silently, the wind blowing through the open slits on the walls, bringing in the moisture of the night's previous rain. The damp bit at them, hit them deep in their bones. The more they ascended, the more slippery the steps became, and the stronger the scent of rot in the stairwell. Now Rouge understood why this was suicide. If they didn't fall, they'd choke to death soon enough. This was probably counted as certifiable insanity to try climbing these steps on such an unsightly night. This was probably why Baeladeen sent Nomad up to the vault. She couldn't have thought any sane person would use the back way. Maybe Sith's insanity wasn't so bad, after all.

When it became too hazardous for even Sith to step, she reached onto the belt at her hip and drew a whip. Flicking it, she wrapped it around a rusty bell, making sure it was secured. Then, she grabbed Rouge and hoisted them both up. Rouge protested at first; his brother was left behind! But when he looked over the bell's tip and saw Blue running along the wall, he knew Sith didn't need to worry. Rouge's upbringing was gentler, but Blue was used to harsher environments. His strength and agility were assets Rouge only wished he could compete with.

They rejoined at the top of the steps, where a single large door stood. Blue reached it first, with Sith jumping off the side of the bell to join him. Rouge slid and crashed not long after. Curiously, Blue looked around before examining the door. This was the top of the tower, he knew. How close were they? When he asked, Sith said, "The path is straightforward from here. Three rooms down, we will be behind the vault."

"So what's the plan?" Rouge asked her, crouching beside the door. He heard nothing beyond it, and so turned back to Sith, "Barge in there and overwhelm Nomad?"

"We don't know what state Ciato is in or how strong Baeladeen will keep her connection once Nomad has him imprisoned," Sith said grimly, wiping the rain off of her arms, "Nor do we know if Nomad is even inside of the vault yet. Baeladeen may be a demon, but Nomad must still walk through the castle." Surely, they had some time, then. Rouge grinned.

"I bet Ciato's going to give her a damn difficult time of finding the vault, too," he guessed enthusiastically. But neither Blue nor Sith were as excited. In a way, that might put the Mystic at even more risk. If he became too rebellious, Nomad could cut his throat and keep it silent. Only a trail of blood in daylight would let them find her.

"So how long do we need to wait?" Blue asked, crossing his arms. He didn't want to remind her that Ciato was already weakened. He didn't need to. Sith knew far more than she told them. Her lips thinned as she thought. She looked at the door. By her guessing, it wouldn't be too long. They might have twenty minutes.

"Our best bet would be to sneak in until we're behind the wall of the vault. We can hear what happens from there," she suggested. Since neither Blue nor Rouge knew Nomad's skill in dealing with Mystic fortresses, they had no need to object. With a unanimous agreement, Sith opened the large door. It was moist and slightly bloated with wet, but her strength was enough to get it to move enough for them to wedge inside.

The stench that poured out, however, was something that none of them considered. The rot was worse within; sickeningly sweet, to say the least. It was a smell you got only in the presence of long-rotting corpses. Even Sith could not control her reflex. In fact, she looked over the side of the railing and let her stomach take over. She wouldn't be surprised if they stumbled on an unfortunate servant who bumbled his way inside by accident. There was a reason this tower had been locked, after all.

When they became somewhat accustomed to the stench – after several liberal applications of Sith's _Seirfreug_ spell, incinerating anything within – Sith bid the two twins to enter first. They glanced at each other, and then at her. She couldn't have been serious. Except that she wasn't moving. She was dead seriously. Not knowing how willing she was to simply shove them through first, they decided it was best to just go on through at their own pace. Slowly, they squeezed through the open door and into the damp tunnel beyond.

Sith came in afterwards, but only after she released another fit of partly-digested food. Some things, she decided, she'd make humans do for themselves in the future.

The pain was almost unbearable. Ciato didn't even know what he did this time to earn Baeladeen's wrath, to make Nomad torture him until he only wished he were dead. The last thing he remembered was speaking briefly to Rastaban. Was it because he told the gentle prince what was happening? Was it because Rastaban tried to help him? He didn't know. He barely cared. All he knew was that, only a short while afterwards, he was being dragged forcefully up the stairs toward the top floor of the Chateau, toward the vault. And that, when he was pushed inside, he was taken into a secret chamber and bound to the wall with chains. And that Nomad liked to carry a whip around and use it, extensively. His coat was in ribbons before he even understood what was going on.

He could have screamed. He wanted to scream. But there was no point, and he knew it. The chamber was secured by two tiles of bricks; it was meant to hold a dangerous artifact that Zozma had stolen fifty years ago. No one would hear him. And if they did, he highly doubted anyone would have cared. Nomad and Baeladeen both knew this. That was why Nomad was punishing him here. He received over forty-six lashes before he finally lost himself and screamed. He saw blood splashing onto the floor and saw one bat wing fall. The scars felt hot and his back was moist. But his agony only enraged Nomad. Another ten lashes came immediately. Ciato wasn't sure if he wouldn't start crying from the pain.

"You understand what it means to defy our mistress, you pathetic worm?" Nomad asked him, when she grew tired of inflicting physical pain. Ciato didn't even have the strength to look up, though he would have spat at her if he could.

When he didn't answer, she lashed him and asked, "Do you!"

"Go to hell…" he snarled, trying to keep whatever was left of his dignity. Nomad was insulted. She growled and hit him again, this time drawing a lovely slash right across his eyes. He screamed in terror as blood splashed onto his shirt. Before he knew it, he saw black. Did he… just lose his eyesight? Oh, gods of death, he was going to die.

"Nomad, that's enough," came Baeladeen's voice, from a place Ciato couldn't find. Then, the demon stepped out from the shadow, taking her true form. Normally, she would have used Ciato's body, but… well, there was just no fun in possessing a corpse. She smiled when the light caught her, "We want to kill him, not maim him."

"What's the difference if he's already going to die?" Nomad asked her, but a glare from the demon – a Succubus, if Nomad could place it – silenced the thief.

"The difference is that if you kill him, this world will go down," Baeladeen answered simply, flatly. To her, that was an obvious point. Nomad sighed in disappointment. She'd taken a liking to beating Ciato.

Deciding that Nomad was becoming too violent, Baeladeen took matters into her own hands. She took the whip out of her servant's hands and walked to Ciato. She bent and cupped his face in her clawed hand. He flinched when she came close. Gently, she asked, "_Do_ you know what it means to defy me, Ciato?"

"I've been pushing your buttons since you possessed me, you crotchety hag," Ciato growled at her, his eyes red with anger. Nomad wanted to hurt him for that shot; Baeladeen wouldn't allow it. Her brow arched, almost in amusement. Then, her smile hardened a bit.

"Are you so into the idea of disrupting me that you'd put your darling Ildon and Rastaban in danger?" she purred, and when Ciato's eyes widened, she added, "What about Rouge? Will you really kill him?"

"You touch any of them and you die!" Ciato yelled at her furiously, forgetting the pain he'd suffered for the last hour. He regretted the outburst. Rather than whip him, Baeladeen slashed his throat. He screamed again, coughing blood. Baeladeen's grin turned feral. Soon, she would be drinking that blood.

"I would love to know who'd stop me," she whispered to him.

She had her wish in an instant. The wall in the next room was torn apart by a tornado, the fallen bricks crashing into windows, ancient artifacts, and various fragile furniture. Anything that could be broken, was broken in three ensuing seconds. Nomad screamed. The noise was going to alert Orlouge. But when the smoke cleared and three figures emerged into the room, Nomad fell silent. And that was because a sword severed her head from her neck, and then tore out her guts. Baeladeen turned, wide-eyed, at the commotion.

She came face-to-face with Sith Winchester. The latter was in no way happy. Her eyes were blazing red, her wings stiff and her tail lashing, taking a chunk out of the wall near Rouge. With her sword in her hand, dripping blood, and her black hair whipping wildly in the gust, she was a rather terrifying sight, indeed. The look on her face told Baeladeen this was no little girl she'd be fighting. The scent around her alone marked her as a Prince. Wait… no… there was more than that. Espers did not have the stench of darkness on them. They didn't have the tinge of Hell. Sith, however, did. She wasn't just an Esper Prince. She was a _Demonic-Esper_. Oh… shit.

Baeladeen found herself backing away, but Sith merely said, "You won't be running, you little twit. You'll be facing me, now."

"Can we not be reasonable?" Baeladeen asked, knowing her power was next to nil now that Sith was fully aware of her presence. Sith snorted, and responded by sending her sword slamming into the pillar near Baeladeen's head. The impact sent the entire Chateau rumbling.

"We don't make deals with filth like you," Sith snarled in return. Rouge saw Baeladeen's skin paling. She was getting nice and scared now. But Sith had to hurry. Orlouge surely heard the crash her sword had made.

Baeladeen continued backing up, and when she hit the wall, she said, "You are a demon, as well. Would you truly kill your own kind?" Sith hesitated. Baeladeen grinned, knowing she hit a deep confliction in Sith. It didn't last long, however.

"My father was an Incubus, but he sealed his power long before he took the throne. I am not the blood-sucking rodent you are," Sith told her point-blank, and heaved her sword from the stone before continuing on, "In all my years, none have disgusted me quite as much as you Succubae. Living off of the energy of men, torturing the souls of women. I'd prefer it if you all burned in the pits you crawled out of." Her voice held little emotion, but her eyes betrayed that. They burned with utter revulsion.

"That's rather harsh," Baeladeen said simply. Sith smirked; it was barely visible in the darkness.

"Not for scum like you," the Esper retorted, the same simplicity still evident in her voice. The two mages behind her just stared at her blankly. This was not the encounter they expected; Sith seemed ready to slaughter everything within the room just moments ago. Neither could figure out what changed.

"Sith, we need to do this quickly," Blue whispered to her, glancing at Ciato, "He's injured. Severely."

"All in good time, my young mage," she said calmly, looking back at them both. Blue hummed with uncertainty. Rouge was in no way trusting of her idea. His eyes widened at her.

"Good time? _Everyone_ heard that! We'll be flanked with guards and Mystics alike!" Rouge cried desperately. Yet not even that seemed to phase the old Esper. She chuckled, shrugged her shoulder easily.

"Nothing I have not dealt with before," she replied, looking down at her blade, "I've slain the mother of Mystics. I can take her down with ease." Rouge's desperation faded. Now, he was annoyed. This was _not_ as simple as she said it was.

"Then why _aren't_ you?" he demanded through clenched teeth. Sith said nothing for a moment, simply blinking as the silence stretched on. She was staring at the wall, but Blue could see something in her eyes had changed. The color looked… lighter.

Taking a breath, she said, "Demons… and Mystics… there is very little difference between the two. Both have died by my hands in scores. Both will continue to die by my hands. That is my fate, no matter what the future is." She looked sad as she said this, glancing down at her blade yet again. It was glowing brightly, Nomad's blood still dripping from the tip. It was hardly sated. It would never be sated, not until all evil was extinguished from the universe.

"There won't be a future if you don't kill that demon!" Rouge exclaimed hotly. Sith turned from her sword, glared at him. He'd wanted to yell some more, but her look… his words seemed to melt before they ever left his mouth. Before they barely even left his mind.

"I'm trying to!" she finally yelled, and Rouge winced as she wheeled, advanced on him, "Some battles can't be fought with violence, boy. Some can only be won with words!" Rouge was going to argue, to tell her Ciato was dying. But he remembered what Baeladeen said. She could simply escape from harm. Including anything Sith would do. He forced himself to calm down. But it was difficult to when someone he cared about was bleeding to death in front of them.

Blue took over, stepping forward. "So, then, you intend to make some sort of truce between yourself and this demon?" he asked her. Sith snorted, looked at Baeladeen. The damned bitch looked so frightened. She'd be happy to get out alive.

"Killing her would rend the terminal to pieces, due to the sheer power she's absorbed from it," Sith explained to them, almost sounding amused, "My own power keeps her from fleeing this dimension, because of the Mark of Oblivion on my right hand. We are, by all accounts, at a standstill." Blue and Rouge glanced at each other. Neither knew what that could possibly mean. Could Sith kill her, or couldn't she?

"Then what the hell did you bring us here for?" Rouge asked her, trying but failing to keep his anger down. Sith said nothing at first. She looked, instead, at a small mechanism on her sword. Blue hadn't seen it, and wouldn't have known about it if she hadn't glanced. But in the ensuing silence, he heard… ticking?

"What is that?" he asked her. Sith remained quiet for another minute. Then, she chuckled. It was a deep sound, one he wouldn't have expected to come from her. Turning to him, she flashed the flat of her sword. He saw just a glimpse – a small clock. One similar to the face on Aeon's blade. It as simply smaller.

"Killing Baeladeen is simple enough," she said to them cryptically, and Blue had a feeling that her boasting before was more bluff than truth, "But _removing_ her is something I need help with, thanks to the terminal. For that… we wait."

"We _wait!_" Rouge cried in frustration, in disbelief, "That's your plan. We summon you to get rid of this mess and you're doing it by _waiting!_" Blue didn't think Rouge should've been so insulting, but Sith wasn't offended. She'd been alive longer than most worlds had. It'd take more than that to piss her off.

And it showed when she simply smiled at them, saying, "Obviously, the Magic Kingdom never taught either of you any patience. Things happen in their own time. There's little use forcing the issue. It won't resolve itself without the person I'm waiting for." Blue heard Rouge growling unhappily, and didn't blame his brother for getting annoyed. Sith was being overly suspenseful; if she couldn't do what they needed, she should have told them beforehand. Now, none of them had a choice but to see Sith's plan carried out.

"And who are we waiting for?" Blue asked, knowing Rouge couldn't do so without insulting her again. She may have been patient, but her temper was a short one, and both of them knew it. Sith tilted her head.

"Who? More like what, if you want to be specific," she replied, and Blue found himself as flustered as Rouge was, "_What_ we need is a time-keeper. _Who_ qualifies is either the Time Lord, or Aeon. Either one is adequate, though who shows up first is anyone's guess." Rouge twitched, wishing Sith had just come in and torn the demon to ribbons like he thought she would. This was more trouble than it was worth.

His anger was more powerful than Blue's patience. Furiously, he said, "Enough of your games, Esper! Did we, or did we not, summon you to kill Baeladeen! Did you not say you could?" Sith's eyes narrowed as she studied the frantic mage before her. Yes, they did summon her. It wasn't her fault they forgot Baeladeen's improved abilities. It wasn't her fault killing wasn't the same as ending.

"I indeed said I could kill her, and I very well can," she said shortly, dispelling the anger she felt. Twirling her sword casually, she said, "But did you know souls can be reborn? I can kill her. I can kill her a thousand times. And a thousand times, she will be back. Her soul must be destroyed, and to do that, she will need to be trapped in the context of time. _That_ is something I _cannot_ do, despite my power." Now they understood why she needed a time-keeper. Only they could undo the harmful effects from the terminal. That would enable Sith to do her job properly.

Still, that wasn't the only reason Rouge was upset. "Can't you at least heal Ciato? Just enough so he doesn't die?" Rouge asked her tiredly, knowing no amount of fighting would move her in any way. Sith hummed, looking at the battered Mystic. He had stopped bleeding, and was unconscious. But he wasn't dead.

"If you insist," Sith said simply, and threw a healing spell Ciato's way. He was enveloped in blue light, and Rouge watched as the blood evaporated, the Mystic's visible wounds disappearing in an instant. Baeladeen was not happy to see it.

"You can _not_ heal my host!" she yelled at Sith indignantly. Sith snorted. Her response was to send a fireball at the demon instead, causing a loud hiss of '_BITCH!_' to float her way. A blast of lightning sent the demon sprawling to the floor on her stomach. This time, Baeladeen didn't spout at her.

"I can't destroy you, but I'll sure as hell bat you around like a mouse if you don't shut up," Sith snarled at her, showing her Zealacht's blade again. The light shined off, and Sith continued with, "I did say I can kill you. I meant it."

"You don't have the guts!" Baeladeen insisted. Sith's brow arched. In the next second, Baeladeen's winding tail was sliced off, and a scream of ungodly proportions echoed throughout the entire Chateau. It made even Ciato wince, though it didn't waken him from his coma.

"Don't I?" Sith asked her. Baeladeen cringed and crawled into the corner. She knew she had no chance against this Esper, no matter how many times she came back from Death's open arms. Seeing her this cowed surprised both brothers. Normal mortals were easily possessed or killed by a succubus. Sith just made one piss her pants.

"How long until one of your time-keepers gets here?" Rouge asked, in awe despite himself. Sith looked at the tiny clock on her blade. Wherever the others were, it was well past midnight. It all depended on Fuse's ability to open another portal into the past. Would he know to do it? Did he even hear Baeladeen's howl of agony?

"It depends. If your cop is smart, then it'll take relatively little time for the Time Lord to get his arse in here and help me," Sith said simply. She didn't miss Rouge's shoulders slumping.

"We're doomed…" he mumbled unhappily. Blue rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother's pessimism. Being hopeless helped no one.

"And Aeon?" Blue inquired. Sith grinned now. Aeon, she could trust. He'd been by her side for centuries, had fought countless battles with her. He'd sense in an instant if she needed him.

But unless he was occupied, that meant he should've been here. Her grin faded as she realized she didn't even know where the white-haired troublemaker even was. Her face paled as she said, "If he doesn't show up, he'll hear about it later." Blue could've laughed at the uncertainty of her tone. He never thought Sith could be stumped. Maybe he placed too much confidence in her.

"You have no idea, do you?" Rouge guessed. He knew he was right when her wings stiffened. She tried to hide her bluster. She failed miserably.

"What could that idiot be doing when he knows I need his damn help?" she asked, more to herself than to the twins or the demon sharing the room with her. Rouge hid a laugh. She honestly expected a time-keeper to be at her beck and call. No matter what she was, that was cockiness to a tee. No wonder her husband seemed so grim. He must've put up with a lot of shenanigans.

"I think you need a new plan," Rouge told her honestly. Sith glared at him, and he felt Blue nudge his ribs. Maybe that was a stupid thing to say, but he was just being honest. He shrugged. Sith didn't buy his innocence for a second.

"If you don't like it, you can dismiss me and let the bitch have her fun," Sith reasoned, causing another wince in both twins, "I'll eventually clean up the mess, so it's no more trouble for me."

"Except that you know you'll be bitching about it later when you return home," came a voice, and Sith turned immediately. She'd nearly dropped her sword from shock, before coming face-to-face with – not Aeon, like she expected – her husband! Saix stood there, looking down at her with an amused grin on his face. And judging by how hard she swallowed her own words, she wasn't ready to prove him wrong.

When she recovered enough to actually speak, she said, "Saix! What are you doing here?" He just chuckled, patting her shoulder. Blue had a distinct feeling he wasn't here just to bring his wife back. Though, he admitted, he could feel the man's annoyance at seeing his beloved just whisked away before his eyes. No note, nothing to even explain the atrocity he obviously faced.

"Helping you like you want," he told her simply, and his grin growing, he added, "Plus, I'd like to eat in the next century. And the laundry needs doing." This time, Rouge couldn't keep his laughter down. He didn't even try to. Even Blue was chuckling, once he saw Sith's blush worsen, coloring her entirety nearly pink in embarrassment. She sighed, shook her head.

"Unless you can freeze time, dear, there's not much you can do that I can't," she said truthfully. Saix's brow arched. He felt Baeladeen trying to creep out of the corner, trying to get away from him. His grin went feral, and reaching back, he grabbed Baeladeen's neck and slammed her right into the wall. They all heard a loud crack, and Saix released his victim. Baeladeen slid to the floor.

"Don't try that again," he said simply, and the demon barely did more than whimper. To Sith, he amusedly continued with, "Could _you_ do that?"

"Now's not the time to be showing off," Sith grumbled unhappily. But to the three men in the room, that was a subtle way of saying 'No, I can't.' Blue could almost hear the 'Bastard' that'd be hissed at the end. Saix _did_ hear it, in his head. That's why he was still smiling, even as Sith said, "Stop goofing off. Is Aeon coming? We need a time-keeper."

"Currently, he's trying to keep a giant meteor from killing off the last world you were supposed to protect," Saix told her, and she threw a glare at the twins; that part was _their_ fault for even summoning her, "So, I doubt he'll make it." Sith grunted in annoyance. So much for having someone she actually knew. At least they were out of immediate danger. So far.

Turning to Blue and Rouge, she asked, "How did you summon the Time Lord the first time?" Rouge was clueless. He had taken the path of Space magic. Wordlessly, he turned to his brother, raising a curious brow. He had never asked how Blue managed that, but now seemed a good time to tell the tale. Except that Blue wasn't entirely willing to share it.

"Bro?" Rouge urged. Blue sighed, and his eyes narrowed flatly as he recalled the incident. It was probably the most ridiculous encounter he'd had in his adventure. Even more so than when he and Mei-Ling were ambushed by Trinity guards hiding in Nelson's dockside section.

"Keep in mind that the Time Lord hasn't been in his right mind for centuries now," Blue told them all. Sith crossed her arms.

"He seemed fine to me," she said bluntly. Saix quieted her to let Blue continue.

"That's because we fixed his clock before we came to you," Blue explained to her, his voice flat only because he was still on the stupidity of the encounter, "When I went to his realm the first time, the clock was still broken. I could get it started, but I didn't fix it. That was enough to open the drawbridge and reach him on the main pedestal.

"He was… somewhat distraught when I found him. I asked him if he was all right, but he kept mumbling about vampires and swords. I figured he had just come from the Belmont-Bernhard wars back in the tenth century," Blue continued, and ignored Rouge's snorts of amusement, "Well, before I could say anything, he turned on me. Plain and simple, accused _me_ of stealing pieces of his clock. I tried to tell him I just arrived there, but he had none of it.

"Now, I'm no idiot. I had no need to kill Mystics. I came up with a way to obtain his power without needing to kill him," Blue continued, and now he sounded proud of himself, "I simply…"

"Enough of your useless drabble!" Sith finally snapped, and Blue fell silent, "I asked _how you summoned him!_ I don't care how you conned him out of half his magic!" Rouge could say with certainty that Blue was insulted. Even Saix seemed surprised at Sith's rudeness. But she wasn't going to give them reason to waste her time. Not when someone else was doing her job for her.

Knowing upsetting Sith would mean death – namely, his – Blue cleared his throat and said, "There was no way. Virgil sent me to his world." Sith's brow arched again, in intrigue. She had heard the name only briefly, only when she had looked in the old volumes in her ruined kingdom.

"The Ring Lord?" she inquired. Blue nodded. Sith hummed, and then frowned. That meant there was nothing she could do. She didn't have the power to summon another Mystic Lord to help her. Turning to Saix, she said, "We may have a problem." He nodded, knowing what that problem was.

"You can do something, right?" Rouge asked, glancing from the Esper, to her husband. Sith looked sideways at him; her face was grim. That was all the answer he needed. Sighing, he said, "Think Fuse could open a portal for the Time Lord to walk through?"

"He'd have to hear us first," Blue told him, and Rouge moaned in unhappiness. He remembered Sith said the Time Lord's appearance depended entirely on Fuse.

Wanting to help speed the process along as much as possible, Rouge looked up and said, "Fuse, if you can hear us, now's the time to break the barrier and bring our buddies here!" At first, nothing happened. There was no rift in the air, no flickering lights or darkening skies to show them their prayers had been answered. No blasts of lightning smote the lands, no fires devoured the world, no tidal waves engulfed the pitifully mortal populace of Fascinaturu. It was a perfectly long, painfully silent moment.

But that was only for a moment. When Rouge's patience threatened to burst, a shroud of darkness appeared on the wall. For a second, it was a tiny thing; a cat might be able to squeeze through it comfortably. But it grew, and it spanned six feet up the wall before it stopped. And it formed a large portal, one that seemed to go into eternal darkness. When it was solid enough, quite a few people stepped out of it. The first one, unsurprisingly, was Zozma. Ildon was close behind him.

Mystics. Fuse sent all of the Mystics through the portal before Ren and Cindy finally fell through. Sith stared at them, watched them as they came through, chattering about things she didn't particularly care about. But when they saw _her_, they fell silent. Though their last encounter with the Esper had been brief, it hadn't escaped them who they'd been sent to. Nor did it escape them now. Before them was the slayer of the Lord of Madness. The killer of the Mother of Mystics. And the one who actually freed Oblivion from the Lord of Madness's clutches for eternity. Now, she was staring at them all blankly, as though she had no idea what to say to any of them.

Zozma was the first to break the silence. "'Sup, Sith?" he asked with a grin. Sith's eyes narrowed flatly as she regarded him. She _remembered_ him, too. He was the pest who insisted she train him, several centuries ago, against her better judgment. She looked at Orlouge, and then at the Time Lord. She remembered all of them.

"Thank the gods," she said quietly, and approached the Time Lord, "We've contained the demon who's responsible for the tear in reality, but she's absorbed too much of the terminal. I need your help to effectively destroy her." He looked down at her and smiled serenely, setting his cane against the gray wall.

"I know. That _is_ why we're here," he answered calmly, putting his hands on her shoulders, "We watched everything. As soon as you were summoned, I knew you would need help." Sith tilted her head. Was he implying she was losing _too_ much power? He chuckled and said, "Sephiroth didn't wait for you to return." Her blush returned. Rouge and Blue both inched away from her.

"Tell me Aeon is winning," she sighed tiredly.

"He is… managing," the Time Lord replied lightly, and let go of her, walking toward the center of the room, "Now, this should be simple enough with twelve Mystics to lend you their power. All you need is to bind her back in time, right?" He turned to look at her, and found her staring at him, mouth agape as she listened to what he just said. He didn't like that look.

"_Twelve_ Mystics?" she repeated incredulously, "There is only five of you, not counting Ciato. What do you mean by _twelve_?" His brow arched.

"There _will_ be twelve once this time's Orlouge comes in with his band of Mystics," he said simply. But he found that, instead of being happy with that fact, Sith was shaking her head and waving her arms. Did she honestly need _more_ than that?

"No. No, no, no, no, _no!_" she said firmly, and stormed over to him again, "You will _not_ be involving _them!_" She was practically hysterical by the time she'd finished that sentence. But she failed to move the Time Lord in any way. He seemed even more confused by her words.

"Why not?" he asked her. She gave him that look she had before, the one that she thought said how idiotic she thought he was. Except that it was stronger now.

"Are you serious?" she countered in disbelief, and Saix was sure he'd have to grab her before she lost her sanity, "_You_ are asking _me_ why you can't do this! Do you have _any_ idea the paradox you will create! Well, you certainly should, seeing as how you're the _Lord of Time!_" Now, she really was hysterical. She knew how loud the explosion her tornado had made was. She knew that this era's Orlouge would come bursting through the vault any moment. That was why she wanted this over with as soon as possible. The less people she had to involve, the better.

Unfortunately, the Time Lord took her words as nothing more than a scolding and bluster. He scowled and said, "And _as_ the Lord of Time, I can freely involve any mortal I wish. Sith, you need so much power to deal with this demon." Sith glared at him. Even if she did need that power – which, of course, she _didn't_ – she wasn't about to let him destroy whatever piece of time Baeladeen hadn't gotten to. For a woman her size, she looked absolutely terrifying.

"What you're suggesting is so blasphemous to your station that _abuse of power_ doesn't cover it!" she yelled, and Saix had to grab her before she went after the Mystic, "How _dare_ you put me in this position. I will _not_ be a part of her destruction if you do this." To Blue and Rouge, she said, "The deal is off. Release me. _Immediately_."

"Sith, be reasonable," Saix said. But he knew she was too upset for that. And he didn't blame her. Time was delicate, and one had to be careful when modifying any part of it. Taking a breath, he turned to the Time Lord and said, "Tell me there's a way to get the power she needs _without_ creating this paradox." Saix's tone said he wasn't in the mood to negotiate. The Time Lord simply sighed. Demons were just terrible to deal with.

"We need two time-keepers to do it," the old Mystic said with a sigh. Rouge looked at him, and then at Orlouge. Lords were considered the strongest of the strong. They had the Time Lord. That should've been all they needed.

"Aeon's a normal time-keeper. Power-wise, do you think Orlouge and Virgil could even the odds?" Rouge asked, and when Blue turned to him with a questioning look, the younger mage grinned and said, "We have Orlouge and the Time Lord. If we get Virgil here, think we could make some magic happen?"

"How'd we do it? The guy lives in Mosperiburg and rarely leaves, even for food," Zozma told him skeptically. But Rouge didn't answer. He simply pointed to the portal they'd come in from. That's when they noticed it hadn't actually closed yet. Zozma turned to it, followed – slowly, too – by the others. Even Baeladeen, who'd stayed quiet in fear of Saix, looked over and saw the swirling vortex.

Rouge knew something no one else knew. That something was the fact that someone else was still trying to get through. At first, the darkness obscured them, but once they stepped out into the light, they were completely visible. Donned in ebony armor, though with a black-feathered scarf around his neck, stood Virgil. His long hair was pinned back, showing for once his red eyes. Zozma couldn't say he knew the man at all, but he knew instantly why the man was the Ring Lord. Just looking at the man standing before them made them all feel small, compared to his power. Even Sith settled down, shivering.

Virgil, of course, simply smiled and said, "How good to see that I haven't come too late!" In particular, he smiled broadly at Orlouge and the Time Lord, who were his closest friends. They, however, seemed completely dumbstruck. That was timing to a tee; not even the Time Lord himself could orchestrate such a beautiful coincidence.

"Virgil?" Orlouge called, as the Time Lord laughed and said, "My friend, you couldn't have come at a better time!"

"It seems your good friend, _the cop_, knew you'd need more help than you brought. Wisely, he did _not_ want you to use the inhabitants of the time zone you all traveled to," Virgil explained, and Sith shot the Time Lord a triumphant look, especially when the Ring Lord continued with, "Time Lord, I'm surprised at you. The fact that you were willing to create a paradox worries me." It obviously worried Fuse, too. Virgil's appearance literally couldn't have come any later. The Time Lord, for once, was embarrassed.

"Aeon was…" the Time Lord began, but Sith was quick to cut him off.

"Indisposed! We get it! You've stated this many times already," she said shortly, as Saix slowly let go of her, "All three of you are here now. You said I needed more power, did you not? Perhaps now I have enough, and perhaps now we can get this over with." That was, after all, their ultimate goal. The Time Lord was rather shocked with her bluntness. But Virgil wasn't surprised in the least. He chuckled, walking over to the assembled group.

"Yes, perhaps we shall. If I'm not mistaken, Sith, you have a battle to get back to," he said. Sith's eyes narrowed. Did _everyone_ know Sephiroth was about to destroy an entire world?

Knowing that time was of the essence, Virgil was quick to get everyone in the right place. Since he, Orlouge, and the Time Lord were going to form the base of the power used to bind Baeladeen, they formed a tight triangle in the center of the room. Ildon, Zozma, Silence, Blue, and Rouge formed a hexagon around them. That left Sith and Saix to deal with the demon physically; Ren and Cindy, though having come through the portal, had no actual part with Baeladeen's destruction. They were forced to wait, and simply watch for what happened next. Saix let Sith rest for a moment, and he was the one who literally dragged Baeladeen out of her corner and into the center of the triangle. And she didn't want to go quietly. But a smack across the face shut her up.

When she was in the center, the three elder Mystics began to chant their spell, and immediately, a barrier of pure energy was thrown up, trapping Baeladeen inside of it. She screamed, scratched at the walls, but all that happened was that she was hit with electrical shocks every time. When the wall she attacked the most began to falter, the five forming the hexagon began to chant as well. The electric charges within the barrier began to release shockwaves that struck at the demon, jolting her. Her muscles stiffened, and her movements began to slow. Soon, she was completely paralyzed.

Her mind, however, was stronger. She wasn't going to give up so easily. She had done too much, come too far, waited too long! She made a mistake with abusing Ciato so much. But he was just a piece! No… the true error was in letting those blasted mages live. They were the ones who brought that damned Esper there. Violently, she lashed out with mental whips, striking the barriers wherever she could. Sometimes she found just an inch of purchase, chipping off ethereal chunks here and there. But the barrier was strong, fortified with the mental energy of six powerful Mystics and two impressive mages. _And_ they had two insanely strong warriors waiting to strike her down – one of which was the slayer of Madness herself!

Baeladeen fought. But she couldn't win. Whenever she was sure she would take one of the Lords down, one of the lesser Mystics supported him. And when she went after a lesser Mystic of a mage, one of the Lords slammed her with a blast of energy that would have crushed a behemoth. Finally, her body gave out and she was completely immobile. She had wasted too much energy. She wasted too much in the terminal, too much getting them all where she wanted them, too much trying to subdue Ciato. Sith had dwindled her remaining reserve. Saix crushed it. Now, she was powerless.

Virgil let his wall drop. Sith understood the opening when she saw it. She leapt into the air, twirling her sword over her head. When she dropped, she threw all of her weight into the blow, held the blade with both hands to increase the damage she would do. She came crashing down, and the residual force of her fall shattered the remaining psychic walls. Orlouge staggered back from it; the Time Lord nearly fell over. But it was all over, in a matter of seconds. Sith had dealt with such a foe only a few years before. She knew exactly what had to be done, in what way her sword had to go to kill the demon before her.

The explosion was mostly mental. It shattered the threads connecting her mind to Ciato's. It weakened the link the Lords had to each other, and to their friends. It crippled Ciato's life force, though it wasn't enough to kill him; Sith's healing made sure he'd survive the attack. But, most importantly, it slaughtered Baeladeen's mind. Before the last wisps of her life were snuffed out, her thoughts fell apart like a stack of twigs, collapsing around her like a swirl of madness. Before her skull was crushed with Zealacht's mysterious blade, the last thing she saw… was darkness.

When her mind was finally destroyed, the physical explosion happened. There was no fire, no apocalyptic disaster to inform the world that one very dangerous demon had been slain. Instead, Baeladeen bled like any mortal man. The blow tore her body to ribbons, and soon Sith found herself being showered with demonic blood. The corpse was at her feet before the rain died down. Zealacht reveled in it. Sith wasn't nearly as happy. But they had done it. Baeladeen was dead, and would never come back. They had lost absolutely nothing. Even Ciato, in his frailty, survived.

But those things were not the things Sith commented on first. As soon as the triangle broke, and she was allowed to step out and rejoin her husband, she looked at them all and said, "Once again, the world is saved. No thanks to the idiot who actually made a deal with her," she mumbled unhappily, wiping the blood off of her face, "_Now_ can I go back and finish Sephiroth before he unleashes Armageddon?" Everyone hid a snicker at her tone as she pushed past, toward the door. The portal had long since vanished, which meant they'd simply need to make another before she could return to her job.

Before she ordered them to do that, though, she turned back and said, "For the love of Roris, though, someone get me a damned towel!" Unsurprisingly, Rouge and Blue were the first ones to jump at her order. They were, after all, the ones who summoned her. Chances were, they'd be the ones to release her, as well. If Sephiroth didn't succeed in destroying his world, first.

-(End Chapter)

It was a foolhardy journey, but our heroes prevailed. Sith Winchester, with the help of the Mystics, Fuse, Blue, and Rouge, successfully killed the demon responsible for twisting the Celestial Terminal. Now all that's left is to restore reality to what it should have been, and to bring everyone back to their respective times. What awaits Blue and Rouge once they head home? Whatever happened to Kylin? What of Gustave and the other SGF II crossovers? And will Sith walk right back to find a meteor hurling toward her? Find out on the next and last chapter, so click that Review button!


	55. The Aftermath and The End

DISCLAIMER: I don't own SaGa Frontier, SGF II, Kingdom Hearts, or Sephiroth. Surprisingly, all of the above belong to SquareSoft. That makes this particular disclaimer really easy to write. To make matters interesting, though, I will say I bought the deed to Margmel. It was easy, since the place was destroyed in the first few minutes.

Blue and Rouge thought their first priority – after Sith was cleaned up, of course – was to find the instruments needed to send her back to whatever world she'd been in before they summoned her. But they found that, as soon as Sith dropped the towel, smeared with blood as it was, that something didn't quite feel right. Not because there were aftershocks to Sith's massive attack, or because space had been torn open. This was different. The battle to save reality was won, but it wasn't quite _over_ just yet. There were matters that had to be dealt with, things they couldn't leave behind.

Yet such matters were delicate, and they couldn't be achieved when the possibilities for a temporal paradox existed underneath the same roof. Though no magic was being used, there were spikes in energy that were coming out of nowhere. Blue and Rouge, despite the fact that they were surrounded by Mystics and an Esper, were the first to sense it. Even Ren and Cindy sensed the spike, though to them, it felt more like a burst of unnatural heat. Blue was going to ask what that was. Then, he saw the Time Lord smile. Similarly, Virgil and Orlouge were just as serene.

Just as sudden as the spikes of energy, the three elder Mystics simply disappeared. Ildon and Zozma screamed in alarm; Blue dropped his sword, and both Ren and Cindy cringed at the bright lights that signaled their departure. But Sith wasn't surprised. Her brow arched curiously, but she seemed to almost expect what just happened. Hopefully, she could explain it, as well.

"Where the hell'd they go!" Rouge blurted out, cutting the ensuing silence and shattering it like glass. Sith snorted, grinned a bit. _She_ knew, of course. Because similar had happened, before.

"My guess is, back to the terminal," she told them all, and their shock was palpable, "You don't honestly think we'd stay _here_, do you?" She sounded incredulous now. Blue and Rouge exchanged glances. No, they didn't think that, but they also couldn't see where else to go. The terminal wasn't one of those places, either.

"Yeah, but… why there?" Zozma asked her. Sith blinked, as though she was quite unable to believe they would ask her something that basic. Then she remembered that none of them went through patching up pieces of a shattered reality. She and Saix were probably the only ones who had, and still lived from it.

Deciding there was no harm in telling them, she said, "Fuse needs to patch the rest of time, and we can't be here while he does it. Then there's the matter of sending us back to our own realities and worlds and closing off any addition realities and dimensions so this doesn't happen again. That's a lot for one cop to do." Blue agreed, though he wondered at just how Fuse went from being a cop, to being _God_. And he wondered how screwed they all were if Fuse decided to have fun with that concept.

But that was a problem for a different dimension. Even as Sith spoke, they watched as her body slowly began to disappear. Sith would have said more; the looks they gave her silenced her, and she experimentally looked down at her boots. They were no longer there. Her own reaction told them she _hadn't_ quite expected that, but that it obviously amused her. She looked up at them and said, "I'll tell you kids the rest later. See you in about ten minutes." Then, she was gone. She left more confusion rather than resolution for them. Blue glanced at Saix. The man was just as shocked as they were. And he wasn't nearly as adept at hiding it.

Sith's departing message was somewhat cryptic, but they thankfully didn't need to wait long to find out what she meant by it. One by one, the group began to fade and vanish, the lights around them growing brightly as they did so. At first, those lights were as dim as the candlelight, pulsing slowly. But with each successive disappearance, they grew brighter until they threatened to blind whoever was foolish enough to walk inside. Rouge was the last to fade away. He shut his eyes, and he prayed wherever they were going wouldn't be in a dimension too far from their own. Or leave them buried under six feet of dirt.

They all recognized where they ended up next. As soon as Rouge opened his eyes, after feeling himself no longer falling, he saw everyone was gathered on the central pedestal quite a few feet below where he'd landed. To his left was the terminal, now vacant. Fuse must have let himself out when he brought everyone back there. Looking around, Rouge stood slowly. His legs felt like jelly, and he found it hard to not fall down again. But he managed, and using the side of the terminal to steady himself, he made his way down the crystal staircase and onto the lower balconies.

"Everyone here now?" Fuse asked, when Rouge finally arrived. Everyone nodded, and the cop said, "Good. Truth to tell, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get you all back here. I was hoping my guessing did a good job."

"You _guessed?_" Ildon asked him, his voice colored with disbelief. A normal man would've been embarrassed to admit he hadn't the faintest of what he had done, but Fuse simply grinned. He was proud of the fact that he went in blind and still pulled through for the world.

"Fine guess, judging by the fact that reality itself didn't collapse," the cop replied smoothly, and with a laugh, said, "Wasn't keen that you summoned Sith as a finishing blow, but it got the job done… more or less." Rouge heard a snort, but wasn't sure who it came from. He stared at Fuse, wondering how much of the finale had been orchestrated, and how much had been controlled only by their will.

"What do you mean 'more or less?" Blue asked him almost vehemently. Rouge glanced at his twin, saw the worry on Blue's face, "We _did_ destroy her, didn't we?"

"You kidding me, boy? Of course you did!" Fuse exclaimed. At Blue's questioning look, he continued, "But it didn't escape me that another time-keeper was wasted trying to save one world from a fucking meteor while Sith had to help us with ours. Damn waste of time, since I think you all could've killed Baeladeen yourselves." Sith looked almost vindictive. Saix was just laughing. But no one else seemed to agree. None of them, save for Blue, had much dealings with demons. Escaping one was tricky enough. Killing one would've been impossible, considering the circumstances they had.

Rouge, Blue, and even Zozma tried to explain this, but Fuse waved it away and said, "You asses didn't even try. You were willing to let her destroy the world so Ciato lived." Needless to say, that accusation offended almost all of them, except for Sith and Saix. And possibly the three Mystic lords. But their faces were unreadable, as always.

"You've got to be kidding us!" Rouge shouted hotly, brows furrowed in frustration, "What'd you want us to do! Throw around our spells until Fascinaturu was leveled! We had a temporal paradox waiting to happen!"

"I still would've at least stabbed her a few times until she was unconscious," Fuse told him calmly, crossing his arms, "Look, I'm not here to scold you. You did what had to be done. I'm just saying you got careless. You think you did? No. Do I? Hell, yes, I did. It's all opinion. The biggest thing right now is to clean up the rest of the mess." That meant putting Ren and Cindy back in their own realities and sending Sith and Saix away. There was no telling how much power would be needed; this time, they had no _Shard of Time_ to aid them if their magic wasn't enough.

Knowing it was a long shot, Blue turned to Sith and asked, "Would you be able to support us in sending everyone who needs to go back?" Sith's brow arched again. To her, that answer was obvious. She couldn't be at two places at once. Even Espers had their limits.

"Not if I'm one of those people," she answered simply. Then she tapped her chin, trying to think. There had to be a way. Looking at Fuse, she asked, "If you control reality, is it possible to bring Kylin back?" Fuse's face blanched a bit. He wanted to say yes, but he hadn't had enough time tinkering with the machine to find that out. Mortals and Mystics were one thing – they weren't eternal. But Espers like _Kylin_ were another. He was literally as old as the universe.

"I'm guessing he means 'no," Ildon commented, when the cop couldn't find it within himself to answer. Sith sighed. She wasn't sure what else she could offer. If she could stay in their world, she could help them. But she was just as out of place as Saix was.

A chuckle made them realize they weren't the only ones in the dimension. The group at large turned, and found Silence behind them, trying to mend Ciato's body up. Yet the look on his face – the concentration alone! – told them the laugh hadn't originated from him. And at their confusion, the laugh persisted, growing louder. It wasn't mocking, nor insulting. But the voice felt ancient enough. Fuse recognized it, and grinned. He'd heard that laugh before, when he was a young boy who stumbled into the wrong portal at the wrong time.

"I think my uncle found his own way home," he said slyly. Blue and Rouge exchanged glances. They heard the sound of hoof beats, and then out of nowhere, a shadow materialized into the form of a large goat with a white and green mane flowing down its back. A large, twisting horn adorned its forehead, and there were white flames covering its hooves. Its eyes were similarly white, though from his distance, Blue saw the slightest impression of blue irises. Because of the lighting, its fur looked silver – from their memory, Kylin's fur had been orange.

"Kylin?" the Time Lord called, as Sith tilted her head and said, "Kirin?" The two looked at each other momentarily, bewildered at the use of the other's name. The goat-like creature laughed again, though its mouth didn't move to form it.

"You all are surprised. Amusing, to say the least," Kylin said to them, walking over toward the center. Everyone moved to let the grand creature through. Shaking his mane, the Esper said, "I've seen all that has transpired. Let me say that it pleases me that you've restored what I could not." He saw the smiles spreading across their faces. And like most Espers, he wiped them away as he turned to Sith and said, "However, I've also seen that you've left Gaia in severe catastrophe. Not a _smart_ move, considering how powerful Sephiroth is." If he could successfully portray a grin, Kylin would have. Sith's vindication quickly turned to exasperation. Saix had to practically hold her up before she fell over herself.

"Damn it all, how many people _know_ about that!" the younger Esper demanded furiously, not quite sure who she could still blame for it. She _wanted_ to hit someone, but she couldn't decide between the idiot twins who summoned her, the Time Lord who used her, or Kylin for not doing a damn thing about it. Blue could see Kylin's grin growing.

"Just us," he promised. Then, thinking better on it, he added, "And the few thousands still alive in Gaia. Aeon wasn't strong enough to deflect a meteor." Sith just smacked her palm to her forehead, shaking it in utter disbelief. So much for killing the One-Winged bitch-spawn from Hell. Zozma wanted to laugh. He was smart enough to not act on it.

"Tell me that idiot's not dead," Sith grumbled unhappily. Kylin cleared his throat, evading the question. That meant Aeon was probably as dead as the corpses Sephiroth left her.

That was a problem she'd deal with in her own time. Kylin let her stew on that, and turned his attention to the group he'd dealt with beforehand. He was glad to see Blue and Rouge had survived; even happier when he saw the three Mystic Lords were united. But when he saw Ciato, his happiness faded. Ciato had been the catalyst for so much unneeded destruction, had caused what could have been a very bad situation. It wasn't his fault, granted, but even Kylin no longer knew what to do with him. To let him free would be irresponsible – even if Ciato displayed the same loyalty to humanity as he had when he tried to hold Baeladeen at bay, he was still at risk of further possession by even stronger, more vengeful demons. Unlike Espers, Mystics had no protection from such evil energies.

But Kylin also knew many things would still result from Ciato's life, if he chose to grant it. Some would be bad, but most of it would be beautiful, a tale fitting for such a sad Mystic. Ciato had not truly been at fault. But what was the right choice? What was not? Kylin could not say, because too many things were too closely tied to know for sure.

With no other recourse, he would need further opinion by other long-living mortals and immortals. He looked in succession at the Time Lord, at Virgil, at Orlouge, and then at Sith. They were as immortal as he; though they all knew Sith was quickly losing her own immortality. Quietly, he said, "My friends, I know the fate of almost everyone within my realm. Yet, for one man, I cannot decide. I must have your advice." They all felt where his gaze was heading toward. The nearly lifeless body in Silence's arms. Rouge felt himself shiver. They rescued him in the past. His future still had to pay.

"There is always the risk of possession," Virgil began gently, and Rouge felt his spirit drop, "Ciato is strong, but he is heavily burdened, both by guilt and by the knowledge of what has happened. We must think of his soul." Blue put a hand on Rouge's back. That didn't sound promising, however compassionate it was.

"He's nearly broken time several times already. He knows of the tools we use, Kylin," the Time Lord warned the old Esper, and Rouge's spirit dipped further. Kylin nodded. That was an even worse sign.

Luckily, Orlouge's account for the young Mystic was better. The Charm Lord said, "I have raised Ciato as a son. He is a surly and depressing man, but he has a spirit and ambition that burns through him. I do not think, after what he's known and seen, that he would willingly let himself be possessed again. Remember: he only allowed Baeladeen because of _my_ madness in my court. He thought only of Fascinaturu." That made both Virgil and the Time Lord falter a bit.

Sith only added to it by saying, "We let the boy live. Madness is inherent with his kind, and he hasn't actually destroyed the world yet. He simply came very close to it. As you can see, I stopped that attempt." But by the looks on the others' faces, she had a feeling they'd only remind her that by doing so, Sephiroth effortlessly had his attempt succeed. She dared them all to bring it up. Not one of them did.

In the end, they agreed to let Ciato live. It took a lot of thought, and a hell of a lot of persuasion from Sith to do it. But they agreed, after only an hour of debate. Without a word, Kylin walked over to where Silence sat, still cradling Ciato in his arms. The body was starting to grow cold now. His life force would be gone in minutes if something wasn't done. Taking a breath, Kylin closed his eyes and focused. Ciato's spark of life was miniscule at best. He concentrated on making that spark bigger. The poor boy wasn't sure he wanted to live. But Kylin convinced him they agreed he should. And he reminded Ciato that there were too many people still waiting for him to return home. Ciato's spark returned, and Rouge saw his skin returning its color. He relaxed. Everything would be okay.

Or so, he hoped. Ciato's life force was returned, though everyone knew it would take some time before the Mystic fully regained use of his otherwise deadened muscles. Rigor mortis _had_ set in, which told them all how long the twins had been gone – a decent stretch of time to the Mystics, though Sith was once again unsurprised. It had taken at least two and a half hours to wind their way through the past Chateau Aguille. It took only three for the beginning signs of stiffness to enter a corpse, considering the conditions were right for it. Rouge had almost offered to help bring Ciato back and heal him. But when he took a step, the painful memory of Rastaban's obvious concern for the other Mystic stung him again. It wasn't time just yet, not to test who Ciato cared for more.

Besides, there were still other matters to attend to, first. One of them was to put Ren and Cindy back, and make sure they were in the right place. Because of his skill in using the terminal, Kylin granted that task to Fuse – on the argument that this matter was due to a fracture in _reality_, not _time_, much to the Time Lord's chagrin. With a nod, the cop led the two misplaced souls back up the crystal steps, where the terminal sat in wait. No one followed them. That may have been just as well. Turning to the two, Fuse said, "You two ready to get back to the living?"

"Emelia deserves to have the life she wants," Ren said firmly, "Baeladeen used a mask to switch Joker and I, right? First thing I'm doing is finding that mask and flushing it down the toilet." Fuse's brow arched, wondering how he'd achieve such a thing. But he didn't object. Ren would find a way.

Cindy, however, was much more hesitant. She knew what Anita had done with her company, with her own body. She knew she had the same power. Quietly, she asked, "What's to stop me from doing everything my alternate self did?" Fuse tapped his chin. Damn good question, he decided. He also decided it needed a damn good answer.

"Nothing, technically," he replied easily, but seriously added, "But I know you won't. There's something to be said about _knowledge_. Once you know how shit's going down, you tend to focus on _stopping_ that shit rather than creating it. You just keep on rememberin' what we all told you, and remind yourself of what you saw here. You won't make the same mistake twice." Cindy wasn't sure. But she did trust the cop.

To bolster her support, Ren turned and said, "Come on, Cindy. We both have lives to lead again. Even if we both screw up, we have someone to help straighten it out." He cast a sly grin at Fuse, and the cop didn't miss it. Quickly, Fuse stepped back, shaking his head. Oh no, he thought, he was _not_ going to be at everyone's beck and call for all their whiny, little problems. He had enough of that from Silence.

"Hey! What makes you brats think I'm responsible for this!" he demanded hotly. Ren didn't answer, because he didn't need to. They had been followed, after all. Another ancient chuckle alerted them to it. Fuse turned, saw Kylin coming up the stairs. Sith, Saix, and the twins were following. The Mystics were still crowding around Ciato.

"Because, my son, when this is through, I'm passing my power to you," Kylin told him. This caused the procession behind him to halt, and to do it abruptly. The ensuing silence felt more painful than it should've been.

"Are you serious?" Rouge asked. Kylin nodded, and for once, his vast age began to show. He might've been an Esper, but he was getting too old. It was time to let someone else, someone capable, take the reigns.

"I fear that my part in the destruction of the world has taken a toll on my body. I am, needless to say, quite an old goat. I need a successor," he explained simply, and proudly, he asked, "Who better than my nephew?" More stretched silence followed. This would be a painful pill to swallow. Taking a breath, Kylin cryptically told them, "All things must die, eventually."

"Even Espers," Fuse ended, and Kylin nodded. Was that really why Kylin had chosen to adopt the foolhardy cop? It made sense if it was. Even Fuse considered it. If that was the case, he'd make his uncle proud. He saluted, and said, "I'll make sure the realms and dimensions are balanced. No one's gettin' past ol' Fuse, here." Never mind the fact that his accuracy in _legal_ arrests were less than fifty percent. Neither Blue, nor Rouge, nor Silence brought that up.

Sith, unsurprisingly _once again_, was impatient. She came up and said, "You're confident. Show us that confidence isn't poorly placed, and _send us all home_." Fuse winced, and then he grinned. If she weren't already married, he'd find her shrill words and exasperation attractive. Maybe he could fix reality for that…

One by one, piece by piece, Fuse began patching together the shreds of reality Baeladeen had created. He destroyed the portals she had made, the artifacts she had placed, any tools she created in any world that would allow her – or something even worse – to come through once more and wreak havoc. He eliminated the pawns she placed to do her beck and call; Rita, Anita, and Nomad were the first three to go. He vanished all signs that she had been there. Slowly, the universe was being cleaned up. There was no way he could get rid of _all_ the evil, but this was definitely a good start.

And when he was done… he sent everyone back to their rightful places. It was that simple. All it took was the press of a button, the selection of his target. One by one, they all left the strange dimension. Some, like Blue and Rouge, would retain the knowledge of what they had seen and learned. Others, like Ren, would not. Most – the billions who hadn't even been involved in the final acts of the purge – wouldn't notice a difference. No, the terrible knowledge and the ways to fix them would soon solely belong to Fuse. It was a terrible weight, and it grew with every friend whose lives he fixed.

When he was done, he climbed out of the machine. The only one he'd left was Silence. Silence, despite his namesake, did too much persuasion to allow Fuse to send him back to IRPO, alone. The noble Mystic waited for him, watching as he walked down the crystal steps and onto the lower platform. Behind him, Kylin's body was already beginning to die, the Esper's soul having departed long before. The two looked at each other. Neither knew what to say anymore.

'_Is it done?_' Silence finally asked quietly. Fuse nodded, but his grin and pride had long since disappeared. He couldn't go back to his normal life anymore. Too much had to be done before he could even consider it.

"This part, at least," the cop told him with a resigned sigh, sitting on the floor, "Baeladeen's evil won't cause us any grief. But that doesn't stop the millions of other details that caused our world to go off-kilter." He felt Silence sit down beside him. In the desolate cold, the Mystic's presence was known, and welcomed.

'_Such as?_' Silence questioned. Now, Fuse smirked. He could think of one very quickly.

"Rouge thinking he has the smarts to break in and steal the Shield Card," Fuse replied slyly. He saw the shock on his friend's face. Laughing, he said, "What, you thought I'd forget _that?_ That's what put those idiots in my hair at all. I ain't going through that shit again." Silence found himself smiling as well. He knew well Fuse probably would. It'd be the only way to see the twins and have a reason to do it.

'_Shall we take it before he tries?_' the Mystic asked. Fuse didn't answer. As much as he complained, Blue and Rouge were like sons to him. If he took the card away, someone would know about it. Besides, that might not even deter Rouge in any way. That boy had a knack for trouble, as well as starting it.

But for all the fond memories, there was still a sense of unease. Fuse saved the universe from suffering split realities. He would try to keep it that way. But even he, with the power of the Celestial Terminal, couldn't control everything. He could remove problems. He could fix tears that darkness would undoubtedly make. But he couldn't stop the fools who made that darkness possible. Evils like Sephiroth, Baeladeen, and even Orlouge existed. As a cop, he had known he wouldn't stop them. As a god, he knew he never would. Not unless the universe asked it.

Feeling the distance in his friend, Silence turned to him and asked, '_Do you think life will go on as it had before?_' Fuse took a deep breath. He wanted to say it wouldn't. But no one would know. So, he stared up into the black sky, to the twinkling stars of that strange realm.

"That'll be up to the idiots living in it," he replied honestly. He looked at Silence. Neither made a move to head to the terminal and see for themselves.

Life had been different since the trial of Rita. It had been so vastly different, that Gustave, Lord of Finney and Surpreme Judge of the Court of Hahn Nova, began to believe that God himself turned his smile away and cursed the world to descend and rot in everlasting darkness. Narcisse may have caused his own foolhardy mayhem, but Nicolette's punishment had set off a war between himself and the powerful Marquis of Otto, his own brother-in-law. It had ransacked Finney, had brought Jade to its knees, and nearly caused Hahn Nova itself to be reduced to a pile of rubble. Of which the lowliest maggots of thievery crawled out of. No… Life had not been good. And it wasn't God who had caused it. Unknown to Gustave, the true seeds of his destruction had come from a demon with a wish for the death of all powerful nations. Including his own.

Yet, on that day, as he stood on his balcony with Kelvin, he felt only the faintest changes in the air. The breeze felt fresher. The sky seemed less grey. The sun, which had shed only the palest of light, seemed to have gained a golden luster once again. The changes were subtle at best. But Gustave had grown sensitive. He knew something equally as earth-shattering had happened. Would it be for better, he wondered, or for far worse? He almost feared for the remains of his kingdom.

"Gus, Flynn and Nebelstern are returning," Kelvin told him, his voice seeming louder than it actually was. It almost made Gustave jump. He peeked over the banister. He saw his best friend and his loyal general marching toward the castle. Behind them was an army of over ten thousand men – men whose lives had reportedly been lost during a phenomenal storm! Gustave's mouth almost dropped open.

"Impossible…" he whispered, and suddenly turned around and stared at Kelvin, "I ordered no prisoners." Kelvin grinned a bit. The truth would shock his poor friend.

"They aren't prisoners, my friend," the Count of Jade told him firmly, yet he was clearly amused, "Those are the men who have died. The men who have revived." Gustave couldn't understand it. There were, of course, too many to remember. But he had seen Wil Knights and Johan the Assassin there. They had been the first casualties in the ambush to meet Otto. Yet there they bloody were, alive and well.

"Trickery," Gustave accused, but Kelvin shook his head, "Necromancy! Illusions! Actors!" His exclamations were ridiculous. But they were born from fear and desperation. And from the common sense that _dead men did not rise_. But this was no common occurrence. Just as the storm that slaughtered them all had been no common storm. Something was up.

"Well, what do they want?" Gustave snapped, and changed his tone, "Other than to return to the castle?" Kelvin spoke into some sort of device. It took a moment to get a reply.

"They want to start rebuilding the kingdom, Gus," Kelvin informed him, and with a genuine smile, he said, "The Marquis of Otto, and his delinquent daughter, were both found dead in their castle three nights ago." Gustave was pensive for a moment. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief. His sister would not be happy, but for a while, Finney was safe. How long the safety persisted depended on the lives of the men he would be controlling soon, and on the god that gave those lives back.

"Any idea as to how or why they're dead?" Gustave asked, though he found his mind preoccupied with everything _except_ his brother-in-law's death. Kelvin repeated the question into the device. The reply came back, was short, and was in a context Gustave needed no translation for: 'No.'

"Should we send for a coroner?" Kelvin suggested, when Gustave gave no reply to Nebelstern. Gustave stood still for a moment, looking over the balcony to the ruins that had once been his great city. Sometimes he swore he still saw the fires burning in the rubble; the entire residency had been destroyed, and the markets and farmland had been severely crippled. The few chantries and chapels that had been spared couldn't house anyone much longer.

Yes, sending a coroner might be a wise thing to do _personally_. But at a second thought, Gustave reconsidered it. The Marquis had been widely disliked and was known as a tyrant throughout his lands. His death, coinciding beautifully with the war no one wanted to fight, wouldn't come across as a surprise. For all anyone knew, it was his own wife that had done it, snapping mad when she realized her husband was pulling the noose on her own brother. Examining the incident would be a matter of personal preference. But there was one option, a _political_ one, that Gustave liked much more. He asked quietly, "Who owns Otto and Wide now?" Kelvin, thinking only of his own desecrated land, did not notice the tone in the question.

"Well… naturally, your sister does, now," Kelvin told him, "With no male heir, and with his only remaining daughter being fifteen years old, Marie inherited the land." Though he never liked casting suspicion, he found the question odd. Gustave should have known the answer. Brow rising in skepticism, Kelvin asked, "Why?"

Gustave finally did turn, and the two faced each other. Gustave looked into the disbelieving face of his dearest friend. Kelvin looked into the face of a grinning wolf. Slyly, Gustave said, "Before we go on and make a mess of things in Otto, why don't we ask my sister if she wants a new ally?" Kelvin blinked, almost surprised. Gustave never cared for politics. At least, not until the conduct in his court had kicked his ass backwards.

But he saw where Gustave's reasoning was going. He had men who were coming back to nothing. His sister had more land than she could possibly handle alone. She had the supplies to help his army. He had the army to protect her lands. If mutuality could be accomplished, the entire continent would unite under Finney's banner. Even Phillipe would have to pin his men down and form an alliance with Gustave. Marie, once she agreed, would force it on him, using their family ties as leverage. And with so much land acquired to one powerful family – in essence, to one incredibly capable leader and his siblings – no other nation would so much as try warring with them unless they had a death sentence. Yes, there was beauty to holding off on personal generosity.

There was an entire nation to strengthen, and then to rule. Suddenly, there were two grinning wolves standing on that balcony. And below them, their cubs of mercenaries were returning.

Sith returned to the ruined remains of her castle in a dreadful state, carrying the unconscious body of the time-keeper, Aeon, with her. Fuse had sent her back to Gaia, all right. He sent her back _just as_ Sephiroth's space rock crashed into the damn planet, and she had all but one second to get her sword up and try deflecting it before the meteor hit _her_ and sent her sprawling into the unforgiving ground far below. The good news was, she sent that comet screaming right back, shattering the North Crater, successfully killing Sephiroth's bitch-goddess of a mother, and leaving the would-be genocidal psychopath as nothing more but a mumbling, stumbling mess. The bad news was that she took the hit entirely, and now she couldn't move her left hand without it hurting. Obviously, Aeon did a stellar job of keeping Sephiroth at bay while she was gone. Obviously, Aeon got to die later.

When she reached the inner courtyard and saw the steps leading to the front doors, Sith dropped Aeon and just stared. She was so close to home. Her husband was waiting for her. Why did she feel like she couldn't go on? Damn it, _no!_ She was home now, she had a warm bed and good food waiting for her. She could finally get some rest. She could finally _bathe_. Why weren't her legs moving?

All at once, Sith found herself collapsing. Damn it to hell, she was just too tired. The air wasn't too cold. As long as it didn't snow, she'd survive a few hours of sleep. But she never hit the ground. Something caught her. That same something sighed heavily and said, "The day I don't need to catch you is the day hell freezes, woman." Sith emitted a tiny growl. That was her husband. Who should've been _worried about her_.

"You'd be so bored that you'd go and destroy hell, Saix?" she asked, opening her eyes and looking up at him. He found himself grinning at her. He heaved her to her feet and hugged her. It'd only been a little while, but that was long enough for him.

"Well, how else will I get rid of my rage?" he asked her bluntly, and his grin growing, he said, "For one, I'll lose my wife. For two, I'd have to learn to cook for myself, I'd have to walk your damn dog, and I'd have to learn what Solitaire is. Not to mention I'd be sleeping alone for the…" He felt something slam into his face. Her tail knocked him senseless. "_Ow!_ Damn it, woman, what was _that_ for!"

"You never complained this much to Xemnas about how much _shit you'd have to do_," she pointed out sharply. Saix hummed, ruffled her dark hair. She was so cute when she was angry with him. It was like watching a kitten trying to swat at a very rabid wolf.

"Xemnas never would've bothered listening," he reminded her, his grin smug. He leaned closer to her and said, "Now, I did _try_ to learn, darling. But apparently, searing sirloin with a Firaga spell isn't what _well-done_ means. Also, we may have lost the stove in the process." Which was just about the only damn thing in the kitchen that still worked. Sith slapped her forehead, and then slapped his. She wasn't in the mood for this.

"_Saix!_" she whined unhappily. Now, Saix laughed. She was _mad_, but she couldn't do anything. He was bigger and far stronger than she was. Not to mention he hadn't been hit with a meteor. He controlled himself enough to hug her again.

"Dear, be thankful I didn't set myself on fire," he said soothingly, though it may as well been to himself, "Let's go inside. You've had a rough day and you need some sleep." But the grin didn't vanish. Sith almost asked why, and found she shouldn't have. He sniffed at her hair, at her burnt clothes, and said, "First, though, you need a bath." Saix suddenly found himself tumbling down the stairs and landing face first into the cobbled walkway. He grunted, and heard the heavy castle doors slam. Sith was going to be in a pissy mood for a while.

Gods, he loved that she was back. It was no fun teasing the dog.

Fascinaturu hadn't changed at all. Darkness would always be darkness, and the Mystic worlds dotting the fringes of Oblivion were simply beacons for that darkness to flutter to. Fascinaturu was no different, even if the poison that had once infected Orlouge's sanity had gone. Baeladeen had done minimal damage; only Ciato had been seriously injured, and he had the ability to contain that damage. The treasury, however, wasn't as lucky. Baeladeen hadn't done much to harm it, but Sith had thrown a tornado to signal her entrance. That tornado left paintings and tapestries in tatters, and had smashed into several other expensive, and sentimental items. Including the vase that Virgil had given Orlouge for his one-thousandth birthday. That one, Orlouge wouldn't forgive Sith for right away. Not until the Time Lord could go back in time and secure another for him.

However, though the removal of Baeladeen did little to the fate of the Mystic world, there were still changes ahead for that sly, mythical race. It began, like so many damn things in Fascinaturu did, with Orlouge. Being out in the world had done well for the Charm Lord. It gave him perspective, and made him realize there were other worlds than his own, and that those worlds didn't revolve around him. It made him understand what it felt like to help others and to be a hero. He preferred that feeling. It gave him thrills that not even Kunerai could have. He was smart enough to not go and mention that to her – she would literally destroy Rootville with the flames of hell.

The first order of business, he declared, was that he was in need of a successor. For this, every prince and princess in the Chateau had been gathered, a ceremony that had not occurred, ever, in Fascinaturu's history. The throne room could not fit them all. Orlouge had to hold his court in his garden. And though he loved his garden, he knew it'd give everyone an easy opening to run away if they didn't like what he was going to say. He'd have to just let them go. He decided to leave corporeal punishment to IRPO – no longer was he the cruel tyrant he had been before.

The announcement of his successor was a shock to everyone involved. It was a shock to the princesses, because Orlouge was finally stepping down and letting someone else sit in his throne. It shocked Zozma because, though he was the First Prince, he wasn't the one chosen. It shocked Rastaban because, though his attempt to place Asellus on the throne failed, this announcement had no influence from him whatsoever. It shocked Ildon because he never once thought he'd be around to see Orlouge do this. It shocked Asellus because the successor was not her. But most importantly, it shocked Ciato the most. And that was because the successor, by Orlouge's words, was _him_. At those words, the garden fell silent. Ciato felt hundreds of eyes upon him, watching him. He felt the blood draining from him, terrified there would be an immediate revolt. He was just as unliked as Orlouge had been – perhaps even more so!

Then, Ciato heard something. It sounded like a clap. Another one followed it, and then another, until slowly, everyone assembled was clapping. It had started with Rastaban. Ildon had quickly joined in, followed by Zozma. The princesses came slowly, but soon the garden was thundering with applause. Orlouge, who had always treated Ciato like a son, was applauding the loudest. For once in his life, Ciato smiled. Was this what it felt like to be happy?

"Way to go, pal!" Zozma called, as Ciato ascended the steps to where Orlouge sat. The Charm Lord stepped aside, let his successor take his place in the throne. It felt oddly right. And long overdue.

"But… why?" Ciato whispered, as princesses began to rush forward to greet their new lord. It was slow going; there was no order, and too many people trying to move at once. Orlouge looked from them, to Ciato. There was a knowing glint in his eye.

"Of all of my sons, Ciato, you understand the taint of madness the most. You set out alone to destroy it because you love your brothers so much," Orlouge answered simply, "Who better to rule than someone who knows the darkness and wants to live in the light?" Ciato had never thought of that. He had tried to… but light had been painful for him. Until he had met those blundering twins…

Something within the rush burst through. Zozma, Ildon, and Rastaban were far stronger than most of the princesses, and had been able to break through the horde. But it wasn't without consequences. When they finally fell through, slamming into the bottom steps, Ciato saw that Zozma's ponytail had come undone and he sported a black eye. Rastaban's scarf was ripped apart. Ildon was missing a wing. But at least they were able to stand next to the throne. Orlouge just laughed and said, "Now, spend some time with your brothers. Heavens knows the princesses' constant complaints will keep you busy enough!" Ciato grumbled. He wasn't keen on babysitting a bunch of women he didn't like. At least he had his 'brothers' by his side. For now.

The wedding day had been planned and was coming faster than Ren thought was possible. Ever since returning to his reality and strutting back into his house, it'd been nothing short of a rush. Emelia had been so garbled with happiness that it took Annie's translations to figure out what she was trying to say. Ren heard 'Joker,' 'Steven,' and 'I knew it wasn't true!' several times before finally just proposing and giving her a new reason to sputter out gibberish. And it worked, too.

Unfortunately, Emelia's idea of a wedding was going to be an ordeal to accomplish. She wanted _everyone_ she knew to be there, from Annie and Liza, to the guy who gave her a hotdog in the park that day. She had at least five bridesmaids. She wanted a glamorous wedding dress, and she wanted a cake made by Hobart Sternbein. She also wanted the wedding in Baccarat. All of this was enough to make Ren's head spin. But he could do it. He had enough money, and if he didn't, he wasn't above begging Fuse for a raise to pay for it. Fuse saw the future, and would understand. Or so Ren hoped. Fuse had also been appearing on and off since taking Kylin's place. Silence had been, too. And though no one said a damn thing, the reason why Silence was gone was obvious.

So it was. The wedding was less than six weeks away. Ren made his way to his house carrying boxes of shit he'd picked up to decorate the rooms the Gnomes had set aside in the casino. He could already picture Emelia bustling around, driving herself and Annie insane with instructions. He could see himself and Roufas laughing at them.

He stopped when he knocked something off the step. Looking down, he saw that what he stepped on was a mask. It was the mask that had transported him to an alternate reality, letting Joker come through and terrorize the shell of his life. He swallowed. No… it let _his alternate self_ come through and try to reach out to Emelia. He had seen his alternate after the fact. He almost felt bad. But history wouldn't be repeating itself. In one blow, he kicked the mask so hard that he shattered it. Then, he stormed up the steps and walked inside.

Joker wasn't coming back, not even to see the wedding he wanted to have.

Red stood on the balcony of the CTC building, looking down over Manhattan. It had been a smoldering ruin before. But in the blink of an eye, it had rebuilt itself, becoming the shopping metropolis of the world once again. People who had died simply sprung back to life. Shops reopened, stalls sold their food, and everyone hustled around as though nothing had even happened to threaten the end of their world. He and Alkaiser had watched it all unfold, thanking their two magician friends for doing their job well. The world was saved, and they didn't need a hero to do it. Alkaiser was happy. But for Red, there was one change in the world he never envisioned happening when the world was safe again…

"Dear, I really need you to come inside and help me. The Cygnus is asking for more funding, but I've got to give the donation to Trinity first. You're my husband, you understand how to speak to these people!" …yeah. As soon as the world was saved, Red suddenly found himself married. And he was married to someone he thought he'd never find himself chained eternally to: Cindy Campbell. The whole thing irked him out. Mainly because she seemed so _nice_ to him. The Cindy – rather, Anita – he met before was a bitch who tried to kill him. Not to mention she didn't respond to Anita anymore. Alkaiser simply said 'she'd hit her head too hard.' But Red knew something else was up.

So he rolled with it. Marriage wasn't going to be so bad. His parents kept theirs up for twenty years before his dad bit the big one. Besides, he had what he wanted as a kid. He had a beautiful woman, he had lots of money, _and_ he was still a superhero. With a grin, he said "I'm on my way, Cinders!" Then, he walked into the office and sat down at the desk with Cindy. Life was his oyster. He was going to fry it and eat it accordingly.

It was a beautiful day in Devin. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and life had resumed as it normally did. It was the perfect day to make trouble. And, as Rouge walked down the road to the airport, he was intent on doing just that. He may have had the gift for Rune magic, but he found himself unhappy with that. Why, just last night, Blue _obliterated_ an evil Ax-Beak with the Saber Card! Rouge found that all his runes were good for was boosting Blue's spellpower. And while he loved his twin, he felt it was high time he took some of the glory home, too. So, he came up with a plan.

It was a simple plan, really. But to do it, he required a partner-in-crime, someone who he knew he could trust explicitly. But Blue would never agree to what he was about to do, so he had to settle with Lute. The idiot had nothing better to do, anyway. Rouge felt, as he made his way toward the front gates, that he was doing Lute a huge favor by asking him to help steal the Shield card from IRPO. With his usual overconfident grin on his face, he waved to the loading man at the docks and went inside.

To his surprise, Lute wasn't there. But Blue was, and he had been _waiting_. And judging from the fact that Ciato and Ildon were there, too, he'd been waiting a long time. Oh… oh shit. This wasn't looking good, and it wasn't even eleven in the morning yet. Rouge's confidence quickly wavered and turned to outright fear. Did Blue somehow know what he was going to do? They were twins, but telepathy was something that was iffy for them.

"B-bro? What are you doing here?" Rouge asked, trying to disarm his brother with a smile. It didn't work. He knew his fear showed through. Blue gave him a grin of his own, one that said he knew _exactly_ what Rouge was going to do.

"Keeping you from doing the one damn thing that'll bring us back to square one," Blue told him sweetly, though by now his grin was wild. Rouge's face blanched. Damn it, they _both_ remembered what brought this mess up! Rouge had thought that, maybe if he'd done something slightly different – perhaps not _completely_ leveling IRPO's sub-basement – then that would keep their world from descending into chaos again. He never thought Blue would catch on. Blue, for the most part, acted as though he remembered nothing. Now he knew that had been a ruse.

"Here we thought you wouldn't remember, either," Ciato commented, drumming his fingers on the table, "But, alas, it looks like we've all been cursed to remember what's happened." His voice was low and came out as a tired drawl. He'd been more and more exhausted on his subsequent visits to his human friends. Rouge wondered how much of his life force Kylin had restored, after all.

"That's for the better," Ildon said firmly, crossing his arms, "Besides, we'd have still stopped him even if Fuse _hadn't_ told us not to." Blue grinned again. Technically, their intervention was Silence's idea. Fuse simply put that idea into words; they weren't nearly as eloquent as Silence had wanted. Either way, Rouge wasn't happy. He'd been royally screwed.

"Come _on!_" he cried in exasperation, throwing his arms up, "I even came up with a plan and everything! What! Why are you bastards laughing!" He glared at Blue and Ildon. They had, as they listened to Rouge, burst out into hysterics that couldn't be controlled. Blue's chest was heaving. Ildon was practically in tears, he was laughing so much.

"You're serious? After everything you put Blue through, you'd _still_ try stealing that damn card?" Ildon asked him. Rouge's face blanched as he looked at his twin. But as he saw that smug look, that confident grin mirroring the one he wore just moments ago, his fury returned. Blue wasn't just going to be an ass about this. He was going to be _insolent_.

"_I wanted Arcane magic!_" Rouge cried out childishly. Ildon laughed again, shaking his head. Blue just sighed, pretending that Rouge hadn't just said that. Ciato's brow simply rose. Not even Zozma was that ridiculous. And _Zozma_ never let anyone forget when they had something he deemed as 'his.' Ciato looked at Blue.

"You were right. Rouge _is_ whiny," he mused, snapping the younger mage out of his fit, "Perhaps making him my princess _won't_ work out." He was beginning to look as smug as Blue was. Rouge stopped whiny and just stared.

"W-what!" Rouge yelled, eyes widening as Ildon's laughter rose again. It was bordering on lunacy, "What do you mean _your princess!_" Ciato pretended to be bored about the subject as he feigned examining a magazine.

"I am the Charm Lord now, so it's only fitting I have a princess," he replied simply, glancing to see Rouge's reaction, "However, I don't care for women. I've been with Ildon and Rastaban too long. So… I need a male princess. And I believe you'll do nicely." Rouge's eye twitched and he found himself blushing despite the disgust he felt. Yes, he still cared about Ciato, but… but that scene with Rastaban…

"Won't the other two be angry?" Rouge asked almost shyly. Ciato smirked a bit, shook his head.

"They have a princess of their own," the new Charm Lord informed him. Rouge's head tilted and he glanced at Blue.

When he did, he suddenly understood why Ildon had come, and why Rastaban had taken the time to warn them about Rouge's plans. His eyes widened again. Blue looked away sheepishly, which seemed to only confirm the horror that flashed through Rouge's whirling brain. No… no, that was impossible! Blue had been Princess Lion's boyfriend… but that seemed so foggy now. Still, that couldn't have been right. Mind still reeling from shock, Rouge pleaded, "Blue, tell me they're kidding!"

"Mystics rarely joke about this…" Blue said quietly. He was blushing in embarrassment. Damn it, they were serious. He and his brother were going to become princesses to three insane Mystic Princes. He looked from Blue, to Ildon, and then to Ciato. The two Mystics were grinning now. Damn, damn, _damn it!_

"And Rastaban _agreed_ to this!" Rouge blurted out, and then it all came tumbling after, "_No!_ We're not princesses, we're _men!_ And we're _human!_"

"So were most of Orlouge's women, at one time," Ildon said impatiently, "As for Rastaban, it was his suggestion. Apparently, I'm too _surly_ and _depressing_ sometimes. As though having a human around will help." But it was clear he wasn't exactly opposed to the idea himself. His hand was gripping Blue's shoulder _too_ possessively.

"And what if _I_ said no?" Rouge asked, trying to find some out. Ciato took his turn to shoot that down. He sighed in boredom.

"We all know you won't," the Charm Lord stated, and stood, "Now, we've come a long way to collect you both. Be dears and come quietly. I'm not in the mood to fight and kill you both." Rouge blinked, and then started shouting gibberish as he watched Blue and Ildon both stand, making their way toward one of the gates. Then he said nothing when Ciato put his hand on his arm and started leading Rouge after them. So, this was it, was it? This was how Fuse was going to 'keep trouble down.' By letting three _psychotic_ and _love-deprived_ Mystics snatch two rather impressive magicians and turn them into their little princesses? Well, fine. Rouge would make the best of it. There was lots of trouble to be had in Fascinaturu, anyway. Ciato was going to regret making Rouge _his_ princess.

Yet, somewhere, despite the initial flashes of hatred he felt, Rouge found he was also happy. After all, in the end, he only wanted what was best for both his brother and for Ciato. And this seemed to fulfill it. Even if he only lived for another century, he knew Ciato would take good care of him. Ildon and Rastaban would do their best for Blue. And maybe, _just maybe_, Fuse could smile at how beautifully his idea came out. And maybe Silence would be smiling, too.

-(End Story)

Well, there it is, folks. The end, the great gate, the final moments, and the finish line. Fuse managed to fix _everything_ up, and miraculously did it with no casualties whatsoever. Considering that it was _Fuse_, that took some skill to do. And everyone even had a happy ending! Honestly, I had no idea how I'd tie everything together and have it all make some level of sense, but in the end, I think I did well. It wasn't easy, and I wasn't sure how Joker, Anita, and Nomad – who were the three criminals Fuse and his team had to capture in all three of their missions at the beginning – were going to fit together with Baeladeen's ultimate plans for destruction. But I managed. As for everyone else, like Roufas and Nusakan, I guess we'll never know just how _their_ lives changed for the better. I'll leave that up to you. Anyway, thanks for reading this insanely long, somewhat scattered SaGa Frontier fanfiction. It's been fifty-five awesome chapters, and almost five awesome years, and I wouldn't have done it any differently. The bad news is, Fuse no longer has a solid IRPO team anymore. The good news is, I'll still be doing SaGa oneshots, so do stay tuned for them! And remember to click that Review button!


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